


The Ephemeral Thing About Theatre

by redhoodedwolf



Series: Stage Manager and the Jock [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Theatre, Beauty and the Beast, M/M, No Hale Fire, No Werewolves, Prom, Stage manager!Stiles, Surprise!Actor!Derek, There's crying, basketball player!derek, but happy crying mostly, derek and stiles are basically giant dorks, fluffy fluff fluff, this fic is very emotional, though it's not really important other than minor bg info
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-28
Updated: 2015-03-28
Packaged: 2018-03-20 00:17:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 26,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3629574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redhoodedwolf/pseuds/redhoodedwolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everyone was still staring at him, and Derek paused to wonder if he’d just made a huge mistake.<br/>But then Ms. Morrell was passing to him a stack of papers that looked like forms, and saying that he should arrive right after school on Friday, and not to be nervous because it was really just a formality to get a feel for the people participating.<br/>Callbacks weren’t until Monday.<br/>And that was how Derek Hale found himself auditioning for Beacon Hills High’s Spring production of Beauty and the Beast.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Ephemeral Thing About Theatre

**Author's Note:**

> Title comes from this quote:  
> “I like the ephemeral thing about theatre, every performance is like a ghost-- it's there and then it's gone.”  
> ― Maggie Smith  
> So basically I saw this post on tumblr of bby Hoechlin sitting on a stage, and the comments turned into a theatre au that I never wanted to stop writing so HERE TAKE IT BEFORE I NEVER LET IT GO  
> Here's the original post that prompted this whole mess: http://redhoodedwolf.tumblr.com/post/104773623165/zainclaw-broodingsoul-fara1903-tyler

            "I’ll do it."

            Ms. Morrell’s eyes widened at the words, gaze snapping up to meet the unwavering eyes of Derek Hale, basketball team captain.

            "You… You’ll come?"

            The entire class was staring at Derek now, but he ignored their eyes and instead smiled warmly at his French teacher. “Sure.”

            Morrell seemed to melt, leaning against her desk in relief. “Thank you, Derek,” she said softly, and he just shrugged.

            "Sure," he repeated.

            Everyone was still staring at him, and Derek paused to wonder if he’d just made a huge mistake.

            But then Ms. Morrell was passing to him a stack of papers that looked like forms, and saying that he should arrive right after school on Friday, and not to be nervous because it was really just a formality to get a feel for the people participating.

            Callbacks weren’t until Monday.

            And that was how Derek Hale found himself auditioning for Beacon Hills High’s Spring production of Beauty and the Beast.

~

            Adrenaline was flowing through his veins as Stiles speed walked over to Scott who was standing by his locker. A wide grin was plastered across his face, and he was bouncing slightly, but he couldn’t help himself!

            Scott sighed dramatically before slamming his locker closed and looking at Stiles. “What?”

            Stiles’ grin got impossibly wider at that. “It’s audition day,” he breathed.

            Scott scoffed and moved to abandon Stiles in the hall. Stiles jumped to catch up with him, giving him a slap on the shoulder. “Come on, don’t tell me you’re not excited.”

            Scott chuckled. “Of course I’m excited, I’m just not,” he waves a hand at Stiles, “jittery.”

            "Come on, Scott! It’s our senior year! That means I get to be _The_ Stage Manager, and _you_ ,” he spoke with a poke to Scott’s arm, “get a lead role. Are you nervous?”

            Scott shrugged. “A little, I guess. But let’s be real-- we’ve done this for 3 going on 4 years now. Morrell knows what we can do. She’s probably already got the cast list written in her head. There’s no use in worrying about the inevitable.”

            "True. But we need a cast for that first, which means reaching a minimum requirement of people wanting to do it," Stiles grumbled, and Scott nodded in understanding. Stiles went off on this tangent often, and not that Scott didn’t agree, but he could practically recite it in his sleep.

            "I mean, you’d think there would be more than forty people who wanted to do the musical in a school with over two thousand kids, but apparently not. What has happened to theatre? Why do people not care anymore about musicals and plays? They are art! And just as important as any stupid sport. We practice! We put in hours of hard work! Where are our cheerleaders? _That’s_ what I want to know."

            Scott simply nodded, humming in affirmation. “I hear ya,” he added when it appeared Stiles had run out of steam.

            "I hope we have enough people auditioning to even reach the minimum. We were scraping the barrel last year, and it wasn’t any easier of a time with the play last semester."

            Scott shrugged. “We’ll make it through. We always do. And we will _dominate_ as ' _The_ Stage Manager and Main Male Lead' Duo, like we do every year.” He nudged Stiles’ shoulder which couldn’t help but crack a smile at it.

            "Of course we will. The show must go on, after all!"

            "Damn straight."

~

            After school, Stiles and Scott made their way to the auditorium. Technically, Stiles didn’t have to be there, but he loved watching auditions. Plus, he wanted to be there for support: of Scott _and_ Ms. Morrell. If not a lot of people showed up, she was going to need it.

            Stiles was happily surprised to find that, even though they were early, there was already about 15 underclassman, some Stiles didn’t recognize, seated in the first three rows.

            Scott went to join them while Stiles plopped himself down in the fold-up chair next to Morrell at the table she set up for 'official auditioning,' as she liked to call it.

            She seemed oddly relaxed, but excited, if going by her almost fidgety behavior. She was usually a very zen person, as she was also the school's counselor, except for when it came to theatre.

            "Any fresh faces that have potential, you think?" Stiles asked, eyeing the younger students he didn’t know.

            She smiled at him and nodded. “Oh yes, and even some not so fresh.”

            Stiles opened his mouth to ask what she meant, but the answer came to him first, in the form of Derek Hale taking meaningful strides down the carpeted side aisle.

            Stiles was so in shock, his mouth hung open.

            Derek stopped in front of Morrell and gave her a winning smile, holding out his _audition forms holy shit_. “Here you go. I, uh,” he scratched at the back of his neck, a blush tinting his cheeks, which shouldn’t have been seen as endearing to Stiles, “don’t have any previous experience, so I couldn’t fill that part out, but my schedule is in there, and everything else too.”

            "Thank you, Derek," Morrell said kindly, before gesturing for Derek to be seated. Stiles’ breath caught in his throat when Derek’s eyes flickered to him, before moving away.

            As soon as Derek was out of immediate ear shot, Stiles released a shuddering breath. Beside him, Morrell chuckled. “Any more questions?” she asked, and he shook his head numbly.

*

            After the surprise auditioner, a few more people trickled in, depositing their audition papers in front of Morrell, but no other surprise jocks showed up. Just Derek, then.

            "Am I living in High School Musical right now?" he whispered to himself.

            Morrell snorted a laugh, so Stiles must not have been as quiet as he’d hoped.

            As soon as 3 o’clock hit, she stood from her seat and addressed the group. “Hello everyone, and thank you all so much for coming. As you all should know, you are here to audition for Beauty and the Beast. Today’s audition is to see how well you work with the other people around you. Do not worry if after today, you do not get a callback for Monday. This does not mean you won’t be part of the show. It just means that I have seen everything I needed to see from you to fit a certain part, and won’t bother with having you stay after school and extra day for nothing.

            "Sitting beside me is Stiles," Stiles gave a short wave and a smile, staring at the opposite half of the group from where Derek was seated, just in case. "Stiles is our Stage Manager for this production. There will be other crew to help with props and set and everything, but Stiles is in charge. If at any point you have questions regarding anything like that, direct them to him." Stiles pointed at himself here.

            A wave of giddiness flushed through him. He’d heard that speech at multiple practices over the years, but this time he was the one the fingers were pointed at. That probably should make him nervous, but he was too excited to dwell on those other feelings.

            Morrell clapped her hands, making Stiles jump slightly. At some point she must have finished her speech while Stiles was zoned out. “Alright! Everyone up on the stage. We’re going to do some vocal warm-ups.” As everyone climbed onto the stage, she continued, pointing over to the piano in the pit, “Our pianist today is Lydia Martin. She will also be playing for the show, and is simultaneously the conductor for the orchestra that will accompany us.”

            Stiles used to have such a thing for Lydia. Watching her fingers slide across the ivory keys was one thing, and yet watching her _wield a baton_ was a totally different thing.

            He wondered when he’d stopped seeing her in a sexual way. Probably around the same time he realized that, “Hey, weren’t theatre guys usually gay,” and then the subsequent thought, “oh my God I’m a little bit gay.”

            But whatever the reason, Lydia was still fucking amazing.

            Once everyone stood on the stage, Stiles assessed the group and winced. There were enough people there that they could put together the production, but not many more than the minimum. Scott caught his gaze and shrugged.

            Lydia cleared her throat and gained everyone’s attention in an instant. She gave them a sharp smile, and one of the freshmen flinched. “Hello everyone. We’re going to start out with some basic warm ups to get your vocal chords in singing shape.”

            Stiles zoned out, having no need to pay attention yet, and pulled out his phone to play with until the real auditioning started.

~

            Derek knew Lydia from class. They were both seniors, and he had pretty good grades, if he did say so himself, so they shared many AP courses together. She paid him no mind, however, except for a raised eyebrow to acknowledge his presence on what was very quickly being seen as her stage.

            She plunked out a series of notes and had them sing it back to her. It took Derek a few tries to get the pattern down, but after he did, he was easily moving up and down the octave as she directed.

            He could feel the eyes of other students on him, and it made his skin crawl. True, he had never done theatre before, hadn’t even gone to any of the productions in past years, but it was his last semester in high school. Everyone who was in the Drama Club seemed to have a fun enough time, so he thought, why not?

            Plus, Ms. Morrell’s begging in her classes made him sympathetic.

            He didn’t join choir in high school, but he was in it in middle school. Some of the vocal exercises Lydia ran through with them seemed like a distant memory from that time.

            Derek knew he could carry a tune. He just hoped he was doing it well enough not to make a fool out of himself. No one had pushed him off the stage yet, so he assumed he was succeeding.

            Lydia turned to Ms. Morrell and nodded once, which apparently was enough of a gesture to have the woman standing and addressing the group again. Stiles paid no mind, seemingly engrossed in whatever he was doing on his phone. Derek stared at him for two too many seconds before dragging his gaze up to meet Ms. Morrell’s.

            "That’s a good warm up! Now we are going to practice some songs. For the girls, there are two songs you can choose from to audition singularly with, likewise with the boys." She picked up a stack of papers from in front of her and smacked them down again in front of Stiles, who flailed and almost fell out of his seat. "Mind passing those out, Stiles?"

            The teen had a blush rising in his cheeks as he nodded, tucking his phone away. He grabbed the stack of sheet music before climbing the stage.

            Ms. Morrell rolled her eyes. “Anyway. Girls, you have _Home_ sung by Belle and part of _Beauty and the Beast_ sung by Mrs. Potts . Boys: part of the Beast's song _If I Can't Love Her_ and, of course, the Beast lines in _Something There_. We will sing through all of the songs together a couple times, so don’t fret. Then, individually, you will each choose one song to sing for me. I may ask you to sing the second song. This isn’t because I think that you chose incorrectly, it may just be because I want to hear you sing multiple parts, something more fitting for you. Don’t worry too much about it.”

            By the time she’d finished her speech, Stiles was at Derek’s side, handing him his music. Derek said a soft, “Thank you,” and Stiles smiled at him in response.

            Lydia gathered their attention quickly once again and said that she would be starting with the girls’ song first, then one of the boys’, then back and forth again. So, Derek had a moment to relax and look over the music.

            He’d seen Beauty and the Beast as a kid, sure, but he hadn’t remembered much of the music and the intimate details of the plot line. That’s why the day he’d offered to help out Ms. Morrell, he’d gone home and dug the movie out of their VHS collection, set up the old player, and put it in.

            Now, looking at the music in front of him, he was glad he’d watched the movie again. Neither of the songs chosen for the boys had been in his memory before. Now, he thought he may have a fighting chance to be ‘Drinker #3’ from the _Gaston_ song, potentially.

            Derek just didn’t want to make a fool out of himself.

            As soon as he’d told his friends, and fellow basketball team players, that he was auditioning, they’d all gotten wide smirks across their faces. They were very supportive, but Derek knew that whatever role he got, he would never escape it.

            They got through practicing the songs rather painlessly for Derek, and he decided he wanted to sing the few lines of _Something There_ , because it was pretty short and simple.

            Morrell went in alphabetical order, calling people up to audition, which meant that Derek would be in the front of the group, allowing him to just get it over with.

            The few who went before him had rather steady voices, especially Allison Argent, who Derek thought would be a shoe-in for Belle (which, was honestly the only female character’s name he could even remember).

            "Derek," Ms. Morrell called, pointing to center stage. Derek swallowed thickly and stood from his sitting position on the floor of the stage and moved to stand in front of Ms. Morrell’s table.

            "Um, I’m going to do ‘Something There’," he said to Lydia, who nodded and shuffled her music around.

            "Whenever you’re ready," Ms. Morrell said gently.

            Derek took a few seconds to even out his breathing before nodding at Lydia to begin playing.

            _“She glanced this way, I thought I saw. And when we touched, she didn’t shudder at my paw. Not it can’t be, I’ll just ignore. But then she’s never looked at me that way before.”_

            Derek tore his gaze away from the wall above Ms. Morrell’s head, where he’d learned was the best place to look when auditioning (so he’d done a little research, sue him) and saw Stiles’ jaw hanging open.

            There were a few too many beats of silence before Ms. Morrell said, ever the calm one, “Good. Very good, Derek. You may be seated. Alright, next…”

            Derek silently took his seat again and took deep breaths. His heart was pounding. He’d never felt so nervous before.

            Movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention, and he glanced over at Scott McCall, Stiles’ friend, who gave him a huge smile and two thumbs up. Derek huffed softly and gave him a small smile in return.

~

            The rest of the singing auditions went easily enough, though Stiles only paid attention to parts of it. After Derek's turn, Stiles couldn't quite shake off the shock. Derek had _talent_.

            Stiles knew he was the captain of his basketball team for a reason, so there was no denying he had skills. And he was a smart student. Stiles had a good bit of classes with him over the years. But musically-- Stiles assumed he had to flaw somewhere.

            Apparently not.

            He wasn't as good as Scott, but his best friend had the voice of an angel, proven as he sang the bars in _If I Can't Love Her_ so soulfully, Stiles felt like crying-- so it was hard to compare. But there was undeniably a solid voice in Derek. If he'd chosen to take voice lessons over basketball practice, he might have ruled the theatre department.

            Of course, Stiles paid attention to Scott's performance, and he delivered it without a hitch. Before Scott had been Isaac Lahey, who Stiles thought was a sophomore this year, and Stiles was thinking he could easily swing a good role. Erica Reyes performed a few people after Scott, and Stiles was done casting the show in his head at this point.

            Kira Yukimura, who was a transfer to their class at the beginning of the school year, had done the play, and decided to continue on and audition for the musical. Though she had a meek outlook, her voice was strong and obviously classically trained. Stiles had assumed Allison would get the part of Belle, but now he wasn't so sure. Going by the pleased look on Morrell's face, she was thinking the same thing.

            Another clap of hands, and Stiles startled out of his thoughts as Morrell stood to address the group. "Wonderful job, everyone. I'm pleased that you all had the courage to stand up in front of the group and audition for me. Unfortunately, we are not yet done. There is a good bit of choreography in this show," the entire group tensed as a whole and Stiles chuckled, "but we won't have dance auditions. If you are called back, we will discuss your experience so we can better cast, but no dance audition is needed."

            Stiles' freshmen year, there was a dance audition. But that was when they had twice as many people wanting to audition, and they had to make cuts to the cast. Stiles, naive boy that he was, was right next to Scott, auditioning. He had no hopes of being picked, and when he wasn't, he skipped right over to the crew instead. Stiles was worried slightly that some of these kids might not know how to dance, and then where would they be?

            He put the worries to rest. Morrell knew what she was doing.

            "The second half of auditions is line reading. We will do more of this on Monday during callbacks, but for now, I just want to see everyone's acting ability."

            Morrell ushered everyone off the stage and back into their seats. She handed Stiles another stack of papers on which scenes were typed. He passed the packets out to everyone before taking his seat again, this time making sure to not make eye contact with Derek, even when he thanked him in that sweet voice of his.

            "Pick a spot in the auditorium, anywhere. It could be on the stage, backstage, anywhere in the house-- just be sure you're within hearing range. Pick a partner, or you can go alone, and practice the scenes. If any of you girls want to audition for a traditionally male role, then feel free to talk to me about it, or vice versa. I am willing to bend on the genders a little, but we have to stick to the script as much as possible otherwise I have to pay Disney extra. I wish I was joking. Alright, get to it!"

~

            Derek froze for three seconds before a hand landed on his shoulder. It was Liam, a freshman, who was also on the basketball team. He hadn't seen him before, too caught up in his own head. He sighed in relief. "Hey, man."

            "Hey. Wanna practice?"

            Derek nodded, grateful for a partner, and stood. They found an empty corner in the back of the 'house' or whatever Morrell called the audience area. Derek leafed through the script until he got to a guy's part. "Want to rehearse the scene with Cogsworth and Lumiere?"

            He and Liam worked through the scene a few times, before switching to one with Belle and the Beast, each taking turns going over the Beast's lines. Derek refused to pitch his voice up when reciting monotonously Belle's lines, but Liam laughed through his own shoddy representation.

            "Five more minutes!" Ms. Morrell called out, and they flipped to the last page, a short scene between Gaston and someone named Lefou.

            Derek cleared his throat before reciting, "Who does she think she is? That girl has tangled with the wrong man!"

            "Damn straight."

            Derek gave Liam an unimpressed look, and the younger boy sighed and said instead, "Darn right!" with an exaggerated odd accent.

            "No one says no to Gaston! Dismissed! Rejected! Publically humiliated! It's more than I can bear."

            "Bear? Where?!" Liam gasped.

            Derek choked back his chuckle as he continued, "Oh, Lefou... I'm disgraced."

            "Who, you? Never! Gaston, you've got to pull yourself together. _Gosh it disturbs me to see you, Gaston, looking so down in the dumps. Every guy here'd like to be you Gaston, even when taking your lumps_ -"

            Derek cut off Liam's singing with a light punch to the sounder, and the younger boy laughed.

            They reviewed the scene twice more before Ms. Morrell called everyone back to their seats.

            "You might not be paired up with the same person you practiced with when going through with me, but that's because I want to give everyone a chance to do each scene at least once. So, let's get right to it and start with the first Belle scene. Allison, let's start with you."

            Derek only half paid attention to the goings-on on the stage, and instead flipped through the scenes, reviewing the lines over and over. When his name was called, he startled to his feet. The guy who Derek believed was Isaac was standing on the stage, shuffling his feet as he waited for Derek to join him. Ms. Morrell instructed them to do the scene he and Liam were last working on. Derek's face fell, hoping he'd actually be able to do it with Liam, but no dice. Still, he lifted the papers, and delivered his best.

~

            In all of Stiles' life, he'd never thought he'd be stunned by Derek Hale in regards to acting. He could hold a tune and (almost) flawlessly deliver lines during a cold read.

            Morrell let Isaac sit while asking Derek to stay standing and do a scene with Kira as Belle. Kira jumped up onto the stage happily, and Derek gave her a small smile that made Stiles' heart leap.

            "Whenever you're ready," Morrell prompted, and Kira started in moments later.

            ""Then, for the third time, Arthur drew forth the sword...""

            "So that must mean that he's the king!"

            "Wait and see."

            Derek shook his head slightly, complying with the script. "I never knew books could do that."

            "Do what?"

            "Take me away from this place and make me forget... for a little while."

            Kira cocked her head to the side, playing along. "Forget?"

            "Who I--... _what_ I am." The raw emotion in Derek's voice and on his face had Stiles smothering a sob. That was just really unfair.

            Kira took a pause before reading, "We have something in common, you know."

            "What?"

            "In the town where I come from, the people think I'm odd."

            "You?"

            "So I know how it feels to be... different. And I know how lonely that can be."

            There's a tense silence that follows before they both lowered their papers and Derek shot Morrell a nervous grin, scratching the back of his neck. Like he doesn't know how well he just did.

            Ever the calm one, Morrell just nodded and asked Scott to switch with Derek so he could do the scene with Kira.

            Derek hopped off the stage, nodding at Scott as he aimed towards him a thumbs up as they crossed paths, and once he took his seat, received a pat on the shoulder from a freshman sitting behind him, who earned a smile in return.

            It was obvious that some of the others were just as surprised as Stiles to learn that Derek had great acting abilities, but were taking the jealous route instead. Stiles was tempted to glare at the guy in the third row whose own eyes were narrowed in Derek's direction, but he chose to be the bigger man.

            For the moment, at least.

            Scott's read-through was amazing, as expected. Stiles had no doubt that his best friend would wind up in the lead male role of the Beast. Well, maybe a little bit of doubt. But Scott _was_ more talented than Derek. He'd had years of experience where it showed, topping Derek's performance. But Derek really was good.

            It was not much longer before everyone had a chance to read through at least two scenes, and Morrell dismissed them. "I'll email the callback list this weekend. Remember: Don't worry if you aren't called back. It does not determine who is in the show and who isn't."

            Stiles started to collect all of the script packets from students packing up and was surprised to see Derek with a stack of packets himself. He handed them off to Stiles with a smile. "Here."

            "Thanks. Uh, for the help," Stiles stumbled to reply, and Derek ducked his head with a slight shrug.

            "No problem. See you Monday, Stiles."

            Stiles momentarily thought Derek meant at callbacks, and was surprised that he was cocky enough to think he would be called back, but then remembered they had the first period of Monday together for AP English. And his heart melted a little bit more.

            "He's a good kid," Morrell said, taking the packets from Stiles. "He'll be good for our cast."

            Stiles nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, he will." He looked up at her. "I'll see you Monday, Ms. Morrell."

            Stiles grabbed his backpack and joined Scott at the top of the side isle, who was waiting for Stiles to give him a ride home. Stiles slung an arm around his shoulders and rubbed his other fist over Scott's hair. "Nice audition, dude."

            Scott chuckled as he wiggled out of Stiles' grasp. "Thanks man. This is a good group. I think this is gonna be an awesome show." He unchained his bike from the rack outside and wheeled it beside him.

            They made their way through the parking lot, and Stiles glanced around, but found Derek's car already gone. As if knowing his line of thought, Scott said, "So, Derek Hale, huh?"

            "What about Derek?" Stiles asked.

            "He's pretty good. I think he's gonna get a lead part."

            Stiles scoffed as he unlocked his Jeep and opened the trunk for Scott to load in his bike. "Please, you have the Beast in the _bag_. Derek won't take that from you."

            "I'm not worried that I won't get a good part, and he's qualified to play that role. If he gets it, I'll be happy for him. He deserves it." Sometimes Scott was just too good of a person for Stiles.

            Scott continued as they settled themselves into the car. "I'm more worried for him. When he first walked in, some of the other students were saying some not so nice things." Stiles' hand tightened on the steering wheel as he reversed out of his spot. "Like, they hadn't even heard him audition yet, you know? How could they say he was just there because Morrell was playing favorites with her students?"

            "Assholes," Stiles muttered. "Well, I'm sure his great audition will silence them a bit. And the rest... we'll deal with. There will be no drama in this cast!" He declared. "Except for, you know, the whole 'Drama Club' aspect of it."

            Scott just scoffed and cuffed him upside the head.

            "Hey! No hitting the driver!"

~

            When Derek got home, it was like a swarm of people approaching him from all angles. His mother emerged from upstairs while his father came from the kitchen, and his two sisters from the living room. Even his Uncle Peter popped his head out of the office to grin at him.

            Derek slowly lowered his backpack from his shoulder onto the ground and took off his jacket. "Make no sudden movements," he said lowly, "They can smell fear."

            "Oh shut up," Laura sniped as she punched him in the shoulder. "How were _auditions_?"

            Derek glared at her. "Fine. I'll know sometime this weekend if I have to go to callbacks on Monday."

            "That's great, honey," his mother said, cutting Laura off, and his father patted him on the shoulder before ducking back into the kitchen. "I think it's great that you're doing something since basketball just finished."

            "Thanks Mom," Derek said sincerely, and then snuck past them and up to his room where he could have some privacy for three seconds.

            He counted up to four when there was a knock at his door and Cora opened it. Derek liked Cora more than Laura for the pure reason that she was younger and a little less of a "Laura" than Laura was. Still, she was at his door wearing a smirk.

            "So, how was it? Did the theatre kids turn you gay?"

            Derek glared. "One-- that's stereotyping. And two-- I'm already pan, dick."

            Cora rolled her eyes. "I know, _fuck_ , it was a joke."

            "Not very funny," Derek grumbled and turned away towards his computer.

            Cora sighed, hesitated a second, before saying, "I know. Sorry. That was mean of me. I'm just curious. I don't know a lot of the theatre kids at school. Are they nice?"

            "Most, I think. I was only there for like an hour and a half, Cora, and we didn't all sit down and talk about our morals."

            "What about-"

            "Yes, Isaac was there, okay?" Derek snapped.

            Cora recoiled with a blush. "I didn't say anything-!"

            "But you were going to. You mention him at least once a day. You should just put the poor kid out of his misery and go out with him already."

            Cora left with a huff and Derek sighed in relief, finally able to be alone for a minute.

            Opening up his computer, he saw he already had an email from Ms. Morrell with the list of those called back, and apparently he was one of them. Derek was surprised. He knew he wasn't horrible, but he wasn't sure what Ms. Morrell expected to see more of him with. Scanning the list, he saw many of the upperclassmen on the list. Thankfully, by a stroke of luck, Liam's name was there, too, and that settled something in Derek.

            Derek wondered if Stiles was going to show up again.

            Laura barged into his room, cutting that thought process off in his head. "Dad says dinner is ready. And Peter wants to know what part you got."

            Derek collapsed against his bed and groaned into a pillow. His family, seriously.

~

            A week after auditions, Stiles was vibrating with energy while he grabbed his things from his locker. Scott was at his side, looking even worse.

            The cast list was _going_ to be posted that past Friday, but Morrell had been out, so they had to wait a whole silent weekend to see the list.

            The two friends shared a look, steeled their resolve, and walked together to the billboard across from the office where all notices were pinned up.

            Stiles was surprised to find Derek standing there, waiting, eying the closed office door like a predator after his prey. Stiles wondered if Derek would ever look at him like that, but quickly shut down that train of thought.

            Stiles hadn't attended callbacks. He felt they were more personal than auditions, and that it was between the cast and the director, so he'd only seen Derek throughout the school days in the past week. He'd been his normal self, hung out with the same friends, acted as if nothing was different. Stiles didn't see anyone giving Derek any shit for auditioning, so he assumed he hadn't told anyone.

            "Hey, Derek," Scott called out to him with a wave, catching his attention.

            "Hey, Scott. Stiles. You excited?"

            Stiles shrugged, but Scott nodded rapidly. "We are! I mean, Stiles is already guaranteed his job, but the suspense is killing me."

            Stiles scoffed, gaining both of their attentions. "It's not like you-- either of you-- have anything to worry about. You're both gonna get a great part."

            Derek looked at him, surprised. "You think?"

            Stiles rolled his eyes. "Dude. I know I wasn't there to see you in action at callbacks, but for a first-timer-- I assume-- you did a great audition. Morrell knows her stuff. She can pick out actors just by looking at them."

            Scott nodded in affirmation at his side. Derek's jaw was slightly agape.

            All of them jumped at the sound of the front office door opening and Morrell exiting, a single sheet of paper and a tack in her hands. "Hello, boys." She pinned the paper to the board and then added a, "Get excited," as she departed.

            "You look," Scott demanded of Stiles, and Stiles sighed, sounding put upon, but it wasn't like Scott didn't do this every time.

**Beacon Hills Drama Club's Production of Beauty and the Beast**

**Cast List (in order of appearance):**

**Narrator: Paige Krasikeva**

**Prince Adam/Beast: Scott McCall**

**Old Woman/Enchantress: Heather Custer**

**Belle: Allison Argent**

**Gaston: Derek Hale**

**Lefou: Liam Dunbar**

**Maurice: Brett Talbot**

**Cogsworth: Mason Rhambo**

**Lumiere: Isaac Lahey**

**Babette: Erica Reyes**

**Mrs. Potts: Kira Yukimura**

            Stiles had seen all he needed for that moment. "Dude! You got the Beast!"  he exclaimed to Scott, whose clenched eyes shot open and looked at the list in glee.

            "Yes! And Derek!"

            "What?" Derek said, surprise coloring his features. Apparently he'd not been looking either.

            Stiles chuckled. "You got Gaston, dude. And Liam is your Lefou. Guess you get to put your muscles to use, eh?" Stiles' eyes traced Derek's chest before snapping up and giving him a grin that hopefully covered his heated face.

            Derek was too shocked to notice. "I got a part?"

            "Yeah! You, uh, may want to let your friends know so they don't find out on their own."

            Derek tipped his head to the side in confusion. "What do you mean? My friends already know. So does my family. They haven't stopped pestering me for two weeks now."

            Stiles' face fell. "Awe, I'm sorry dude. Some people will make fun of us for anything. Sorry that's happening to you."

            Derek looked even more confused, but then his face cleared. "Oh! Oh, no, not like that. They're all cool with it. Happy for me, even."

            Stiles smiled in relief. "That's good. I'm... glad."

            A shout of Derek's name down the hall caught their attention, and Derek shouted back to them. He turned to Scott, then Stiles and said, "Gotta go spread the good news. Wow, uh. Scott, congrats, and I guess I'll see you for practice Wednesday!"

            Derek was off down the hall before Stiles could shake out of his thoughts. Scott was oblivious, reading the list.

            "Dude. Allison is my Belle. Do you think this is going to be weird?" Scott and Allison dated their first two years of high school, when Allison first moved to Beacon Hills halfway through the year, but split amicably near the end of their junior year.

            Stiles shrugged. "I don't know. Probably not, I mean, you guys are still close friends. I think she'll be excited to spent time with you again. And I know you miss hanging with her. And not in a date-y way, I mean in a friend way."

            "I got you," Scott replied, patting Stiles' shoulder. "Besides," he leaned in a whispered, "I was thinking of asking Kira to prom."

            Stiles grinned widely. "Yeah, man! Totally go for it."

            Scott chuckled. "Yeah? Alright, I gotta get to class, but I'll see you in third period!"

            Stiles heard the bell ring, and he cursed, shouting a goodbye to Scott as he raced across the hall. His first class was on the other side of the building. If he went fast, he just might make it before the late bell.

            The bell rang just as Stiles slid into his desk, collapsing with a sigh. When he looked up, he noticed Derek trying to catch his eye. Derek gave him a smile and a small wave before turning back around in his desk. Stiles' hands clenched on the edges of his notebook.

            He was going to have to deal with these... _feelings_ for the next two months. Stiles didn't even know if he was going to survive the day.

*

            The first official practice was two days after the list went out. Technically, Stiles didn't have to be there, because they were only going to do a read-through of the script, but he figured he could use the time to start designing a prop list, and Scott had wanted a ride home anyway.

            The cast was sitting on the stage, the mains grouped together as well as the ensemble. Stiles picked a seat in the front row and pulled out his laptop. He began leafing through the script and compiling a list of obvious props. Man, they were going to need a lot of random things. Especially books.

~

            Derek wasn't big on being nervous, but he secretly was terrified of the read-through. It wasn't supposed to be perfect, Ms. Morrell promised them, but Derek cursed himself every time he fumbled over a simple word.

            He fingered at the pages of his very own script, smiling slightly as he highlighted lines as Allison and Scott parried back and forth in a scene he wasn't in. Seeing everything he had to memorize suddenly made him realize that he had a lot of work cut out for him. He'd have to memorize all of his lines in addition to the blocking and choreography. Why he thought this couldn't be any harder than playing basketball, he had no idea.

            He felt a pair of eyes on him and looked up to meet the steely gaze of Matt Daehler. He was in Derek's grade, a senior, but Derek had never associated with him. There was just something about him that bugged Derek. The fact that he was being glared at by him for no reason also didn't help his initial opinion. Matt had gotten the part of Monsieur D'Arque, so he had to do a song and a scene with him on stage. He didn't think their chemistry was going to be very good together.

            Though, D'Arque was supposed to be a sketchy man, so maybe it would work.

            He could see Stiles out of the corner of his eye, gaze intense towards his computer as he typed up something. As if Stiles felt his gaze, he raised his head, a small content smile playing on his lips. It knocked the breath out of Derek for a moment, and he quickly snapped his head down so he was looking at his script once again.

            Derek felt his phone buzz in his pocket, and he risked getting caught by slipping it out slightly to read the text.

FROM: CORA HALE  
hey are they still looking for crew

            Derek furrowed his brow in confusion. Why would Cora ask?

            "Meanwhile, back in a dark alley of the village, Gaston held a secret meeting... _a secret meeting,_ " Paige repeated.

            Derek swiftly shoved his phone back into his pocket and cleared his throat, "Sorry, uh. Thank you for coming on such short notice, Monsieur D'Arque."

            Matt glared at him, which Derek felt he deserved, and continued with his line. Derek let out a short sigh of relief and decided to pay attention to the script, not his phone.

            Once they finished up with the read-through, Morrell decided they were free to go, and reminded them that they all had practice on Friday, and then after that, a more strict and individual schedule will be sent to them.

            As he was gathering his stuff, Derek suddenly remembered the text Cora had sent him and shuffled through the seats over to Stiles who was still tapping away at his computer. It looked to Derek like he was making a list. "Um, Stiles?"

            Stiles' eyes met his, and it seemed to take him a moment to process the fact that Derek had spoken, before he snapped his computer closed and gave Derek a smile. "Hey, Derek. What can I do you-- for?"

            "Is there still spots on the crew?"

            "Yeah, we're always welcome to extra help. Do you know someone who is interested?"

            Derek held up his phone and shook it slightly before saying, "My sister wanted to know. Not sure why..." A moment later, Derek realized how offensive that sounded and did his best to backtrack. "I mean, not in a bad way! She's just never liked helping people. Ever. Just odd of her."

            Movement caught his attention, and Derek watched Isaac's blond curls bounce as he exited the auditorium. He thought, _oh_.

            Stiles shrugged, holding back a smile. "It's cool, I knew what you meant. But yeah, if she's interested, or someone she knows, just have them talk to Morrell. I certainly need all the help I can get. The only other crew person I know will be helping is Boyd, and though he has wonderful muscles, he and I are no match for moving the set all by ourselves."

            Derek nodded, doing his best to keep up with Stiles' rambling. "Alright, cool. I'll be sure to let her know. Thanks."

            "No, thank you," Stiles replied.

            A little confused, but mostly happy, Derek waved goodbye before exiting the auditorium. He texted Cora back once he got into his car, telling her all Stiles had told him. She responded with a simple 'K', so Derek assumed the message got across.

            Derek glanced at his script on the passenger seat before sighing and reversing out of his parking spot.

~

            When Stiles got home from practice on Friday, he was greeted by his father's voice coming from the living room. He found him lounging in his chair, a random case file open in his lap.

            "Hey kiddo," his dad murmured again, giving him a short smile. He ran a tired hand over his face. "How was school? How was practice?"

            "Good. I think I did pretty okay on my Civics test. And practice went as well as the first one ever goes."

            "Chaotic?" his father responded knowingly.

            "Yep. Boyd came in to help me start pulling props, and turns out Cora Hale wanted to join crew this year too, so she showed up and was helping out Morrell."

            "Hale? Like Derek Hale's sister?"

            "That's the one," Stiles replied with a nod as he collapsed into the couch and sighed. "Lydia started teaching the ensemble the opening song, and that went okay, but you know how Lydia is. Perfection is the only line. It's gonna take the cast a while to get used to her teaching methods. And Kira's mom is doing costumes this year, so Boyd and I were working around her as she was getting costume pieces together."

            "Kira-- that's the girl Scott likes, correct?"

            "Two for two, daddio, good job!"

            The sheriff rolled his eyes, snapping closed the file and saying, "I have to say-- I'm surprised you've haven't mentioned Derek yet. I even gave you the perfect set up."

            Stiles' jaw dropped and he scoffed. "Father! I am offended! Do you think my world revolves around Derek Hale?"

            "Ever since auditions, you've mentioned him at a minimum once a day."

            Which-- point father. But still, ouch.

            Stiles pouted. "You don't have to gloat about it. I'm just really glad he joined the cast. He's going to make this show a memorable senior year event."

            His father smiled and leaned over to ruffle his hair. "I know. Now, I distinctly remember you saying you were cooking dinner tonight. Hop to it." He flicked open the case file and looked back down at it, smirking.

            Stiles rolled into the couch cushion and groaned before twisting onto his feet. "Fine," he huffed. "But we are having turkey burgers-- _and_ green beans."

            Stiles' eyes narrowed when his father didn't complain, just gave his son an award-winning grin and said, "Alright then."

            Stiles thumped the back of his dad's chair, but it only ended up smarting his hand rather than getting back at his father, who snorted at the noise.

            "Hurry up, I'm hungry."

            Screw the green beans-- Stiles was making some kind of salad. Ha. That'll show him.

~

            "He better not drag the rest of us down with him," a voice to Derek's left whispered. Derek subtly glanced up and looked over at Matt who was whispering to someone Derek didn't know the name of yet, (He was still working on learning everyone's names. He figured once he learned their name and grade, that was a success.) and looking at him. Derek quickly looked away and back down at his score script where he was highlighting his notes in _Gaston_. It was obvious Matt was talking about him, and Derek flushed in embarrassment. He could feel the back of his neck go warm.

            "I bet he won't memorize his lines in time and leave the rest of us floundering. Maybe his jock abilities will help him in dance and breath control, but acting? I--"

            "Daehler," a sharp voice cut in, and Derek had to physically restrain himself from looking over at Stiles in alarm.

            Stiles continued, quietly saying, "Everyone is here for a reason: because they did a good job proving what they could do in singing and acting. And if you have a problem with another actor, then you can either suck it up or leave, because you're replaceable."

            The harsh tone of his voice made Derek feel warm, but not in the embarrassed way this time. Stiles was... standing up for him?

            "And if I ever hear you saying anything like that again, I won't hesitate before telling Morrell."

            Derek swallowed thickly and focused back on his score. He glanced up minutely at Lydia who was eyeing him from her perch at the piano, but she darted her gaze away from him a few seconds later.

            Derek jumped when someone clapped their hand down on his shoulder, and he looked up to find Stiles grinning down at him, his demeanor totally flopped from twenty seconds ago.

            "Hey!" he greeted cheerfully, taking the seat next to Derek. "Workin' hard?"

            Derek raised his score slightly and chuckled. "More like hardly working. Just highlighting."

            "Well, hey, that's important! You have no idea how confused people can get when they forget what part they are singing."

            Derek flushed at his praise. Stiles saw this and beamed. "You're doing a great job, Derek. I'm really glad you're here-- you're gonna be an amazing Gaston. I can feel it, like, in my bones and shit."

            Derek smirked and scoffed to cover up from the grin he wanted to give. "Alright, well, if you can't trust your bones..."

            "Exactly! Alright dude, I gotta bounce. Your sister-- can't leave her alone in the prop and costume room for too long. She gets lost. I'll see you!"

            With another clap to the shoulder, Stiles was off, leaping up onto the stage and sprinting backstage.

            Derek rubbed at his cheeks, feeling the warmth. His shoulder tingled.

~

            At lunch, Stiles clattered his tray to the table, and Scott raised his brows. "Hello."

            "Hey," Stiles grumbled. He munched on a few fries before blurting, "I mean-- what even did he do? Except do his part well?"

            Scott resisted rolling his eyes, Stiles could tell. "You talking about Derek?"

            "Yes! That Matt asshole, acting like he has more talent than Derek does. Why does he hate him? How could he say such rude things?"

            Scott shrugged. "He's probably just jealous, dude. Matt's always been a sketchy guy." Stiles nodded in agreement.

            "Yeah... so, anyway-- Kira. You talk to her about prom yet?"

            Scott got a goofy look on his face, and Allison settled next to him on the bench. "Not quite-- but I did ask her on a date after practice on Saturday."

            Stiles beamed and shouted, "Dude!" while giving Scott a fist bump, while Allison looked at them in confusion. "Wait, who?"

            "Kira," Scott said dreamily, and Allison scoffed.

            "I should have known. She couldn't look her father in the eye during class today, and she's been more smiley than usual."

            Scott's look got even dopier at that, and Stiles and Allison shared a look across the table.

~

            "How have practices been going, Der?" Derek's mother asked as she entered the library. Derek was curled up in the window seat with an old copy of King Arthur.

            Derek smiled over at her, glad it was his mother asking and not his sisters or uncle. Even better than his father, who knew nothing of theatre, and his stumbling questions left Derek more confused than anything. His mother was the most supportive. Plus, she was the only one who knew (or remembered) that when Derek was young, he used to sing along to Talia's album of _Chicago_. He was a spectacular Velma Kelly for a six year old.

            "They're good. I'm having a lot of fun. Ms. Morrell is really helpful in teaching me all of the technical stuff I don't know."

            "That's wonderful. I'm glad you're enjoying this. I think it's good you're doing one last big thing with the school before graduation."

            Oh no.

            "Have you given any looks at the schools you've been accepted to?"

            Derek closed his eyes and breathed. He opened them slowly. "No, mother. I have not."

            As gently as she could, his mother reminded, "You know that you have to accept somewhere before the end of April. You know we'd be happy with wherever you want to go."

            Derek knew. His mom had said the same thing once a week for the last two months.

            "I know, Mom. I'll think about it."

            She smiled at him. "Okay. Love you. Dinner is in about a half hour."

            She kissed his forehead, and Derek smiled softly. "Okay. Love you too."

~

            Saturday's practice ended in a flurry of motion-- students, and even Ms. Morrell, ready to get out of there to start their weekends.

            Stiles was left cleaning up the mess. He found two scripts left backstage and set them on the corner of the stage for whomever to claim them on Monday, and he wheeled the set flats backstage. They'd been reviewing the choreography for _Be Our Guest_ on the stage with the table for the first time, so quite a few props were left scattered everywhere.

            Stiles had waved off Boyd, telling him he could duck out when everyone else did, because he was shooting longing looks at Erica, and Stiles wasn't that much of an insensitive jerk.

            Cora was still there, but she was helping Mrs. Yukimura pack the costumes in her car to take home and work on.

            And then-- Derek.

            "Need some help?" Derek spoke, amused, from behind Stiles. Stiles whirled around, dropping the one corner of the table back onto the stage with a light thump.

            He chuckled nervously. "Yeah, I would appreciate it. But, you really don't have to."

            Derek shook his head, already walking over to the other side of the table, and helped Stiles tip it down to the floor so they could fold the legs in. "Seriously, it's no problem. We made the mess anyway."

            Stiles' heart fluttered. Before this production, Stiles didn't have much of an opinion on Derek. Sure, he was a jock, but not one that he ever really talked to outside of class work. He didn't bully, that Stiles saw, and Stiles remembered seeing him walk his sister to class for the first week of her freshman year so that she would get used to the school faster- even though he was late to every class.

            But now, after talking to him about the show, and class work, and even sitting with him a couple times at lunch, he'd formed a large opinion on just who Derek was.

            That was kind of the problem, though.

            Derek helped him move the table backstage and wheel the rest of the flats back. He was humming _Me_ under his breath, and Stiles found it too endearing.

            It was obvious that the only way anyone could hate Derek Hale would be because of jealousy, because it was evident he was perfect.

            "Hey fuckface!" Cora called from the entrance to the theater, and the words echoed across the auditorium. Stiles scoffed while Derek's face flushed. "I want to get home."

            "You know, you could do your job and come help Stiles clean up," he suggested, and Cora rolled her eyes.

            "Yeah, no. I'm tired. So say goodbye to your," she smirked, " _friend_. You'll see him Monday," she taunted. For some reason, this made Derek's blush darken.

            Stiles stepped in to save him. "It's cool, go ahead. There's only a couple things left to take back, I can handle it. I'll see you Monday."

            Derek's smile in response weakened Stiles' knees slightly. "Thanks, Stiles. See you."

            Derek hopped off the stage, grabbed his backpack, quickly slung it over his shoulder, and bolted up the aisle to his sister who he was hissing something at. Her response was just to laugh, which made him scowl.

            Stiles shook his head, chuckling lightly. He missed Derek looking back at him with a smile as he moved the table with the rose on it off of the left wing.

~

            Watching Scott perform brought tears to Derek's eyes.

            Not many things made Derek cry, but he could be a very emotional person when he tapped into his feelings.

            Listening to Scott singing _If I Can't Love Her_ was one of those songs that brought the emotions out of him.

            Apparently, it was one of the songs that Broadway added, so it wasn't in the original movie, which is why Derek wasn't prepared to need tissues in his backpack for this practice.

            The rest of the cast was sitting in the house, watching the performance as well.

            Scott, donned in his clawed furry gloves and blue vest, fangs in his mouth, belted. " _No pain could be deeper. No life could be cheaper. No point anymore, if I can't love her. No spirit could win me. No hope left within me. Hope I could have loved her, and that she'd set me free. But it's not to be-- If I can't love her... Let the world be done with me_!"

            Stunned silence followed the song, before a loud clapping rose up from Derek's right side, and Derek looked over to see Stiles standing and clapping hard, grinning like a loon. Scott was grinning back at him, tears drying on his cheeks.

            Derek wiped under his own, clearing away the slight wetness there, before standing as well and joining in on the clapping. The rest of the cast followed suit, and soon everyone was applauding Scott-- even Lydia.

            Scott chuckled and rubbed his eyes, looking self-conscious. "Thanks, guys."

            Stiles glanced over at Derek, the pencil tucked behind his ear slipping a little at the motion, and Derek's stomach flipped.

            _Oh no_.

~

            "You ready for this?" Stiles asked, shoulders massaging Scott's as if he were getting ready for a cage match.

            Scott hesitated before nodding. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm ready."

            Stiles shoved him forward. "Go get 'er, buddy!"

            When Scott turned back to look at him, Stiles gave him two thumbs up.

            "What's he doing?" Derek asked, appearing at his side.

            "Asking Kira to prom," Stiles whispered back, not taking his eyes off of Scott in case he needed backup.

            Stiles could feel Derek's eyes on him, but then the older man looked away to Scott.

            Scott dressed himself (okay, so Melissa dressed him, same difference) nicely that morning, and the red rose was neatly hidden behind his back. Stiles crossed his fingers.

            Kira looked up at Scott when he approached her lunch table, and smiled sweetly at him. "Hi Scott! You look nice today."

            Scott grinned, and Stiles cheered softly.

            "What?" Derek asked Stiles.

            "He just got his confidence back." Stiles could tell this because he and Scott had many years together to know each other's habits and mannerisms. And that smile was the 'I Got This' grin.

            Scott brought the rose out from behind him, and held it out towards Kira whose face morphed into one of surprise.

            "Will you be the Beauty to my Beast and go to prom with me?" Scott asked, suave as ever, and Kira couldn't nod fast enough. She jumped from her seat and hugged him, crushing the rose between them. Scott winced, Stiles assumed, because of the rose thorns, but he looked happy enough.

            ""The Beauty to my Beast"? Who came up with that cheesy line?"

            Stiles slapped Derek's shoulder. "I did! Ass. I thought it was cute."

            Derek looked back over at the smiling couple. "I guess so."

            Stiles stopped himself from watching Derek's smile grow.

~

            "Alright. Since next week is the last week before the show, tech week, Scott and Stiles are going to go over the specifics for those of you who aren't aware or need a refresher. Take it away, you two," Ms. Morrell said, gesturing to the two boys on the side of the stage.

            Stiles' grin was infectious to Derek, who sat in his seat smiling back, script open in his lap where he was reviewing his scene with Liam (Lefou) in the tavern after _Gaston_.

            "I have been wanting to do this talk for four years now," Stiles started off by saying, and Scott nodded at his side.

            "Seriously. First thing you should remember is that tech week is going to be crazy. You're going to be exhausted. Which means going to sleep at night and eating is very important. You have to keep your energy up. Evening rehearsals will be from 5-11 in here, so you have to stay on top of school work. Teachers will not take the excuse 'it's tech week'."

            "Believe me, I've tried," Stiles cut in. "With _Ms_. _Morrell_ ," he stressed, and said woman rolled her eyes, but nodded in agreement.

            Scott continued. "If you find yourself overwhelmed, come talk to us, and we will help you out. Tech week lasts for a week, but your health is more important than anything else."

            "In addition to that," Stiles spoke, "Tensions will be running high this week. The first practice will be lights and staging. It's going to be a lot of start and stop. Do not give Ms. Morrell attitude about it. She is the hardest working person here, and she will be ten-times more stressed than all of us combined, so don't bother her with stupid things like attitudes. Or anyone else in the cast or crew, for that matter." Derek thought he saw Stiles' eyes lock on Matt, and by the affronted huff, he was right.

            "But, if you have a question to ask Ms. Morrell, don't be afraid to. Yes, it is a high stress week, but don't be afraid to be curious. We've worked with the costumes before, but if you have questions regarding blocking, especially if something feels wrong, or you don't have enough space-- speak up," Scott addressed, and Stiles nodded in agreement.

            "Another thing-- Stiles here," Scott pointed, "Is _The_ Stage Manager." Stiles smirked. "He is in charge of all of your props. You don't want to piss him off, because he might just misplace your prop, and then you look like a fool on stage. You are in charge of your prop, you can get it yourself. Don't give him attitude. He will help set the prop table and make sure things are where they need to be. If you need help getting a prop from stage left to stage right, make sure he knows that. But he can't be everywhere at once. Remember, in the real world of theatre, crew is higher above cast in the hierarchy, so don't give them attitude or anything, okay?"

            Stiles puffed out his chest, and Derek was inclined to agree with everything Scott said. Stiles had been run ragged every rehearsal for the past month and a half especially, and stayed after to put things away. The few times Derek stayed to help (when Cora wasn't bugging him to leave immediately), he could always see Stiles grinning, though, like he loved his job, and that it was worth the effort.

            "Thank you, Scott. But seriously guys, I'm here to help all of you. Don't be afraid to ask any of us, any senior, even," Stiles glanced at Derek and Derek nodded in response. Stiles grinned. "Right. We're all here to help."

            "It's important to stay hydrated," Scott thought aloud, and a lot of the cast nodded in agreement. "So bring water to rehearsal. Two bottles, even."

            Stiles added, "No food is allowed in the house, so eat before you come. But you should do that anyway."

            "Yeah. And when you get here, leave any inhibitions at the door. If you're pissed at a family member, use that energy and push it into your character. Act out and sing loud. If you make a mistake-- make it big. That way we see it and can fix it. Come in with a good attitude and be happy. This week is really fun, I promise. Stressful, but worth it."

            "Smile. Have a good attitude, be your character- work hard and have fun. That's tech week," Stiles concluded, and Scott gave him a smile.

            Derek started thinking about how he was going to manage his homework with the show. But since it was the last two months before graduation, all teachers but the AP classes had slowed down, so he had less work to do than he did at the beginning of the year. And he'd found a way to juggle it with basketball practices and games, so he could do it for another week.

            "Feeling good?" Ms. Morrell asked, appearing at his side.

            Derek smothered his urge to jump in surprise and gave her a nod. "Yeah. I'm ready. And really excited. Thank you for getting me into this."

            "You helped me out, Derek. I was half thinking this production wouldn't happen without another strong male lead. But we even got two Hales in one, with your sister helping out with crew. So thank you."

            "No problem," Derek said, a little stunned, and Ms. Morrell left him with a short nod.

            "She scare you? She scares me?" Liam commented in his ear, as he was sitting behind him. Derek turned and glared at him. "Just saying. It's good that you joined. I wouldn't want to be anyone's Lefou except to your Gaston."

            Derek held his hand to his heart. "Aw. I'm touched." And he was.

~

            Stiles bound over to Scott and waved a stack of papers in his face. He grinned at him with glee. Scott batted the papers out of his eyesight as Stiles took the seat opposite Scott at the table outside of the school.

            "Guess what I have?" Stiles taunted, now holding the papers close to his chest.

            Scott sighed dramatically, as if perturbed. "What, Stiles? What do you have?"

            Stiles flipped the papers around quickly and Scott could see the Beauty and the Beast logo underneath the name of their school on the first page. "It's the program! Our senior playbill!"

            "Dude!" Scott practically launched himself across the table to grab the papers from Stiles' hands. "How did you get this?"

            Stiles crossed his arms and leaned back, smug. "Morrell gave me a first look before they start printing and putting them together for the shows. Wanted my keen eye to be sure everything looks right and names are all spelled correctly."

            "I wanna see what my bio says about me," Scott declared, flipping through pages to get to where the senior biographies were. Every year, the juniors from the cast and crew collected information on all of the seniors in the production and put together creative biographies about them for the program.

            Last year, the girl who had Stiles write hers cried after reading it, and Stiles will forever mark that down as an accomplishment. Never mind the fact that seniors always cry during their last shows.

            Scott's eyes lit up as he found the page. He cleared his throat and declared what was written next to a profile-style picture of him smiling as he sat on the stage. "Scott McCall (Prince Adam/ Beast): Scott has been an avid member of Beacon Hills' Drama Club since his freshman year when he played an ensemble member in both the fall play (You Can't Take It With You), and the spring musical (Footloose). Since then, he has been an actor in every other play and musical in the last four years. In his free time, he works at a veterinarian clinic, and spends time with his best friend," Scott elbowed Stiles, who had moved to his side to read over his shoulder, "Stiles. Scott plans to continue his work as a veterinarian, and will work for his vet-tech degree at BHCC. As such an integral member of this Drama Club, Scott McCall will be very much missed after graduation. We all love you, Scott!"

            Scott pursed his lips and smiled the way Stiles knew he did before he started to cry. Stiles patted his back before snatching the papers from Scott's hand. "I know, it sucks, right? I'm gonna have them rewrite yours."

            Scott gave Stiles an unimpressed look, and Stiles laughed. "Kidding, dude. I wanted you to read yours first. Now, It's my turn. Eh-heh-hem," he dramatized clearing his throat, mocking Scott. "Stiles Stilinski (Stage Manager): Stiles has worked on crew for every production with the BHDC for the last four years. With his best friend at his side, Scott McCall and Stiles have become the Dynamic Duo of the school's theatre department. He is an honor roll student, in the top five of his class, and still finds time to head the crew department in every production. Stiles has always been an integral part of each show by keeping everyone sane. He is the glue to this massive project." Stiles paused to swallow thickly and ignored the sting in his eyes. "Stiles plans to join the police academy after college, and though he has not accepted an offer, many have been made to him from prospective universities across the country. Stiles always plans to stay involved in theatre wherever he goes. Everyone in the cast is going to miss him, and wish him well on all of his future endeavors."

            Scott quirked an eyebrow. "Stiles?" he asked, concerned.

            Stiles rubbed at his eyes with the back of his arms. "That one sucks, too."

            Scott laughed and leaned into Stiles, wrapping him into a hug.

            While struggling out of Scott's grip that Stiles could tell would soon turn ticklish, he saw Derek exit the school and start for his car.

            "You gonna show him his?" Scott asked as he let Stiles free.

            Stiles shook his head, "Nah." He grinned at Scott. "This is just for you and me."

~

            "Alright! _Gaston_ ends, and the scene starts..." Ms. Morrell directed from her seat in the first row. Everyone was in their places on stage, sweating in their costumes under the harsh warm lights. Derek stood tall, with his arm poised in the air in a fist, and under his spread legs was Liam lying between them striking a goofy face.

            The lights changed, and as they did, the doors built for the tavern flew open, and Brett stumbled in, his grey wig and mustache disguising his real appearance. "Help! Help! Someone help me!" he shouted in a panic.

            The rest of the ensemble playing patrons of the tavern stared at him in confusion as Derek uttered, "Maurice?" in a baffled voice.

            Frantically approaching members of the ensemble, Brett begged, "Please, I need your help! He's got her locked in a dungeon--"

            The boy currently in Brett's grasp asked, "Who?"

            Brett was amazing at playing panicked, because even Derek could see the crazy look in his eyes. "Belle! We must go at once! Not a minute to lose!"

            Derek took Brett by the shoulders and turned them so that anyone in the audience could see them both as he spoke to him. "Whoa. Slow down, Maurice. Who's got Belle locked in a dungeon?"

            "A beast! A horrible, monstrous beast!"

            There is a silent pause before everyone on stage in tandem (except for Brett) bursted into  laughter. Derek bellowed loudly and held his stomach.

            Brett's face turned furious, and he stormed back over to the doors. "All right then, I'll go back there and get her out myself!"

            He disappeared through the black curtain behind the door, and the rest of the ensemble followed him offstage as the laughter teetered off. "Crazy ol' Maurice," one of them spoke. "He's always good for a laugh."

            Liam stood at Derek's side, and Derek glanced at him momentarily, before pacing back and forth across the "tavern" floor. "Crazy ol' Maurice..." he muttered thoughtfully. "Hmm..." he hummed before he lit his eyes up in enlightenment. "Crazy ol' Maurice!"

            Liam looked at him like he was urging him to tell his thoughts, and the lights dimmed to focus on just the two of them with dual spotlights that momentarily blinded Derek.

            " _Lefou, I'm afraid I've been thinking..._ "

            " _A dangerous past time-_ -" Liam cut in.

            Derek pretended to sock him on the shoulder, and Liam faked a wince, as he cut him off, singing. " _I know. But that wacky old coot is Belle's father, and his sanity's only so-so. Now the wheels in my head have been turning since I looked at that loony old man. See, I promised myself I'd be married to Belle. And right now, I'm evolving a plan!_ "

            Derek and Liam finished off the scene, and Derek felt proud to say that he hit that final note and stuck the landing.

            As the entire stage darkened in a blackout, Derek jogged offstage followed by Liam. He got a pat on the shoulder from Stiles before he disappeared onto the stage to move the tavern set and make way for the castle set. In his black 'Stage Crew' t-shirt and headset, he blended in to the shadows that covered the stage, but Derek could see his outline as he silently and swiftly flipped the door around to show the other side that was painted like a stone wall. Watching him work-- he seemed so natural in that environment, and it kind of took Derek's breath away.

            Scott brushed past him, followed by Isaac all decked out in his unlit candle hands and headpiece, and Derek jumped out of their way, his face flushing. He had no reason to be standing around right behind the curtain. He moved into his dressing room that he shared with some of the other guys, so he could get out of the way.

~

            After checking the prop table to make sure that everything was where it was supposed to be after he set up the stage, Stiles ducked into one of the dressing rooms to wait. He accidentally bumped into someone, and he quickly turned to apologize.

            "Sorry, I-- Oh. Derek. Sorry for bumping into you. Great _Gaston_ scene, by the way. Really strong."

            Derek's face flushed, and Stiles felt warm all over at seeing it. "Thanks. The choreography got messed up a little. I almost stepped on Liam, like, twice."

            Stiles patted him on the shoulder. "Everyone has slip-ups. It's tech week. We're here to fix all of them. Don't freak out over it too much."

            "Stiles. _Be Our Guest_ in 30 seconds," he heard in his ear from Boyd who was on the other end of the headset that was wrapped around his neck.

            "Copy that," he spoke into the microphone. Stiles grinned back at Derek and gave his shoulder another comforting squeeze. "Gotta jet."

            Stiles dashed out of the room and moved over to the black rope attached to the table used for the dinner scene, and sneakily pulled it onto the stage where it was set up on a wheeled low platform on the other side of the stage, so he went completely undetected by the audience (or prospective audience). He gave Boyd the thumbs up when he spotted him amongst the ensemble beginning to crowd behind the curtain waiting to enter, as Isaac, with his effective enough French accent, said, "Ma chere mademoiselle, it is with deepest pride and greatest pleasure that we welcome you tonight. And now we invite you to relax, let us pull up a chair as the Dining Room proudly presents... your dinner."

            Lydia conducted the orchestra into playing the lit that set up the beginning of the singing, and the cast took it from there.

            Stiles could see a tiny sliver of Morrell as she watched the show run through, through a crack in the curtain, and Stiles was elated to see she had a small upwards tilt to her lips. Everything was going wonderfully.

~

            Everything was going terribly.

            All the scenes leading up to Derek's mistakes were going wonderfully. And Derek even started off the scene strong, appearing from the shadowed left wing of the stage to enter and say his line just as he was supposed to.

            But then he caught Matt's eye. Ever since the boy had insulted him all those weeks back, Derek had had a hard time working on scenes with him. He always felt inferior around him-- like if he messed up, Matt's suspicions would be right about him getting special treatment from Ms. Morrell to get his part.

            That was his first mistake-- looking Matt in the eyes. The other boy stared at him with obvious malice, but because his character was already shady and evil, it worked for his part.

            He froze, and his mind blanked. Allison spoke Belle's line, and he knew he had a line, he knew, but his lips floundered and nothing came out. Matt smirked, and Derek faked it. He said some made up line that didn't set up Allison's next line correctly, which made the both of them look stupid, and from there on he was a flustered mess.

            _The Mob Song_ followed, and he missed three notes as he pretended to rouse up the crowd to storm the castle. When the scene finally ended, and the stage fell into a blackout, Derek hastened off of the stage.

            He passed Stiles who rushed to set up the castle set. Derek took a deep breath and concentrated on the next scene. It was the last scene he was in for the rest of the show, so he focused on getting through it and saying the correct lines at the correct times.

            As soon as he "died", he ran backstage and into his (thankfully empty) dressing room, where he collapsed into his chair. He ducked his head between his knees and gripped the back of his neck.

            A light tapping noise had him shooting his head up, and he glanced at Cora who was standing in the doorway.

            "No girls allowed in the boy's dressing room for any reason," he recited back Ms. Morrell's rule automatically.

            Cora scoffed and entered the room anyway. "I think siblings exceed that rule. Besides, Morrell likes us."

            Derek huffed into his hand, shaking his head. "That's just it. Maybe she likes us too much."

            Cora squinted her eyes. "What does that mean?"

            Derek hesitated before asking honestly, "Cora, do you think Ms. Morrell gave me this role because I deserved it?"

            Cora pursed her lips, huffed a breath out of her nose, and grabbed the other free chair. She pulled it up next to Derek's and took a seat. "Yes. Yes, Derek. Look, I know I've been a hard ass about you joining in and everything, but you have _talent_ , bro. I mean, you're not Broadway material, but you are good. You didn't get your part because of favoritism, or because Morrell was desperate. You got it because you _rock_ at it. Okay?"

            She nudged Derek's shoulder, and he swayed with the movement. Derek still said nothing.

            Cora sighed again. "Stiles told me that you were worrying over a few little mishaps earlier today, and he already told you that it was okay. Do you really think forgetting a line or two is the worst mistake? I forgot to set up the rose, Derek. _The rose_. The most important piece of set was missing because I fucked up. But Morrell just told me to fix it, and move on. And that's what you need to do. So." Cora stood up and reached out her hands to Derek, grabbing his and pulling him to his feet. "You are going to go sit in the house like you were told to, and watch and wait until the rest of the show is over. You are going to forget about fucking Matt and his jealousy because that's where his hate stems, Derek, and you know this. Stiles has told you at least twice, that I've heard."

            Derek nodded in agreement. It was true. Stiles was often one to give him pep-talks when he screwed up in rehearsals.

            Cora pushed him out of the room and Derek diligently took the short hallway down to the doors that opened into the house. He opened and closed them quietly and took his seat silently as he watched Scott "magically" transform as Allison cried over him. Glancing at the clock, he saw that it was almost 11, and he slumped into the seat in relief. He was ready to just sleep the day's events away.

~

            The only upside to tech week for Stiles was the fact that he didn't have to put the set away at the end of practice. They just had to clean up the props and costumes, and that was mostly done by the actors.

            So it was easy for Stiles to get the chance to catch Derek by the arm as the older boy was collecting his things to go. Derek looked over at Stiles, and then at Cora, who was at his side. Derek tossed a set of keys to Cora and said, "I'll be right out." Surprisingly, Cora didn't protest in the least.

            "Hey," Stiles said softly. "You okay?"

            Derek nodded and quirked a small smile at Stiles. "Yeah. Cora gave me a nice talk, actually. I'm just exhausted. And it's only day two."

            Stiles grinned. "Yep. There's much more tech week to come. It won't all be as bad as tonight, I promise. Tuesday is the tough day. Tomorrow will be a lot less stressful because it's picture night. Tons of pictures, but only one run through of the whole show so there's time."

            Derek relaxed, and it was then that Stiles realized he only knew this because he was still holding onto his arm. Stiles dropped his hand quickly back to his side.

            "Good," Derek said on a sigh, like he hadn't been effected by Stiles' lack of touch.

            Stiles said nothing for a moment, staring down at his shoes, before he stated abruptly, "I'm gonna give you my number."

            Derek looked at him in surprise, but seemed to quickly recover and pass his phone off to Stiles, a new contact already open on it.

            Stiles typed in his number and sent himself a text. "There. Now I have your number, too. Just... text me if you need anything. If homework gets too stressful this week, or you're freaking out before practice or something. Even when the show's done, you can. Text me. If you want to."

            Derek's cheeks had a sleepy flush to them, and Stiles found it adorable. "Okay. Thanks. I'll, uh, see you tomorrow."

            "Yep! Tomorrow morning!" Stiles grinned at him, waving quickly, before he darted up the aisle and burst out of the front doors.

            He got himself home, somehow, without dying from pure exhaustion, and fell onto his bed in a huff.

            He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, and he fished around for it, before pulling it out to read the missed texts.

FROM: KIND GASTON  
this is the kind gaston's number

FROM: KIND GASTON  
Stiles did you really send that to yourself

FROM: KIND GASTON  
Gaston is not a good or "kind" person

            Stiles snorted at the message, and rolled onto his back as he typed a reply.

TO: KIND GASTON  
he is not good observation. but /you/ are a good person, but also playing gaston. thus-- kind gaston

FROM: KIND GASTON  
And you put yourself into my phone as THE stage manager

FROM: KIND GASTON  
you love that title, don't you?

TO: KIND GASTON  
yes, yes I really do

FROM: KIND GASTON  
Of course

FROM: KIND GASTON  
I'm going to bed now, Stiles.

TO: KIND GASTON  
goodnight my good gaston

FROM: KIND GASTON  
Goodnight my stage manager

            Stiles bit his lip as his smile grew. But his energy was quickly depleting. He barely had enough to plug his phone in and pull a blanket over his shoulders, before he passed out.

~

FROM: THE STAGE MANAGER  
duuuuuude this class is so boooooooooring

FROM: THE STAGE MANAGER  
i see you there

FROM: THE STAGE MANAGER  
taking notes and shit

TO: THE STAGE MANAGER  
And you should be too, not texting.

FROM: THE STAGE MANAGER  
wow you're right you have shown me the error of my ways i will now reform

TO: THE STAGE MANAGER  
-_-

FROM: THE STAGE MANAGER  
that is the perfect emoticon for you omg

FROM: THE STAGE MANAGER  
but seriously dude this is Finstock nothing he says is ever useful

FROM: THE STAGE MANAGER  
my dad is gonna be at practice tonight

FROM: THE STAGE MANAGER  
he's taking pictures for scott's mom too since she has to work

FROM: THE STAGE MANAGER  
what about your family?

FROM: THE STAGE MANAGER  
come on derek class is nearly over text me baaaaack

TO: THE STAGE MANAGER  
My mom is coming to take pictures. I think Laura wants to too but I'll sell my soul before that happens

FROM: THE STAGE MANAGER  
hahahahahahahahahhaah

FROM: THE STAGE MANAGER  
i remember laura from freshman year she was awesome

TO: THE STAGE MANAGER  
Says the person who doesn't live with her

FROM: THE STAGE MANAGER  
touche

FROM: THE STAGE MANAGER  
there should be an accent above that e

FROM: THE STAGE MANAGER  
derek how do you accent on a phone

FROM: THE STAGE MANAGER  
WAIT NO I GOT IT

FROM: THE STAGE MANAGER  
touché

 TO: THE STAGE MANAGER  
You are such a dork

TO: THE STAGE MANAGER  
Ha! See? Finstock yelled at you. Should have been paying attention

FROM: THE STAGE MANAGER  
fuck you hale

TO: THE STAGE MANAGER  
:)

~

FROM: KIND GASTON  
How did you get into doing crew?

TO: KIND GASTON  
i didn't want to initially

TO: KIND GASTON  
scott has always been into theatre and we wanted to do stuff in high school together

TO: KIND GASTON  
so we made a pact to join the drama club out freshman year

TO: KIND GASTON  
so we both auditioned. scott got in and i didn't

TO: KIND GASTON  
but there was an option on the audition form that said if we didn't get in we could still participate

TO: KIND GASTON  
so morrell suggested i join crew and i fell in love with it from the first show

FROM: KIND GASTON  
Wow.

TO: KIND GASTON  
yeah I know, it's kind of cheesy

FROM: KIND GASTON  
No, it's nice.

TO: KIND GASTON  
alright dude, sure

FROM: KIND GASTON  
I didn't think I'd like doing this.

FROM: KIND GASTON  
Ms. Morrell didn't sell it really well in class and I didn't know what to expect

TO: KIND GASTON  
and now?

FROM: KIND GASTON  
I'm really glad I took this chance

 _FROM: KIND GASTON_  
I'm really glad I got to know you.  
ERROR: MSG UNSENT

TO: KIND GASTON  
i'm glad you did too

TO: KIND GASTON  
:)

~

            "Derek? What is this?" Derek's mother inquired as Derek entered the kitchen for an early dinner preceding his last practice before opening night.

            Derek looked up from his phone where he was texting Stiles, a smile on his face. When he saw what his mother was holding and what page it was flipped to, his smile fell.

            ""Derek will be attending New York University with two academic scholarships under his belt, and plans to major in Romance Languages with a potential minor in Russian and Slavic Studies. We hope to see him harness his gift and continue doing theatre for a long time." You accepted at NYU?"

            Derek settled into one of the kitchen chairs, but stayed silent, staring down at his dark phone screen.

            Talia frowned, sitting in the chair across from him. "Derek."

            "I'm sorry, okay?" Derek blurted, shooting his head up and looking his mother in the eye. His hands were trembling slightly, and he dropped his phone to the table top. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I haven't officially accepted yet, but yes. That's where I'm going."

            "I don't understand, Derek. Why didn't you tell us?" She reached over and took Derek's hands in hers, squeezing them to catch his once again detached attention.

            Derek sighed heavily, his shoulders tense. "I thought... I know that family is really important to us- and it _is_ really important to me. And you were born and always lived here, and so did Dad, and Laura stayed close for school, and now-- I didn't want you to be mad at me for leaving."

            " _Oh_ ," Talia cooed at her son. She moved around the table and wrapped him up into a hug. "I've told you before, Derek. You can go wherever you want, as long as it makes you happy. If staying close and going to a school in-state won't make you happy, then I absolutely don't want you to. You don't have to follow family tradition. If NYU is your goal, then I absolutely want you to reach for it. I'm so proud of you, honey."

            Derek swallowed thickly, broke out of the hug, and looked up at his mom. "You really don't mind?"

            She shook her head. "Nope."

            "How did you even get that anyway?" Derek had to ask, eyes skirting over to the show's program that was left sitting on the table.

            "Cora brought it home from school today. Said she thought I should get a first nice copy to save. Thinking about it now, it was probably just so I could read your bio."

            "Do you think the rest of the family will be mad?"

            Talia shook her head again. "Derek, we all love you. Your choice is what we want for you."

            Derek stood and pulled her into another hug. "Thanks, Mom."

            Talia bent down and kissed her son on his head. "Of course, baby."

~

            Because it was the practice before opening night, Morrell had them running the show as if it were actually happening. That meant that she had offered everyone a 15-minute intermission. So the cast had a chance to change costumes and crew was able to ready the set, and practice dong it within normal time constraints.

            Since the set at the beginning of the second act was minimal compared to the castle scene they ended on, Stiles and Boyd finished up within the first few minutes. Stiles did a cursory sweep of the prop table, to make sure everything was where it was supposed to be. He ended up instead finding Derek grabbing his prop torch for one of his next scenes.

            "Hey!" Stiles greeted him and nudged his shoulder with his own. Derek looked up at him and met Stiles' grin.

            "Hey," he responded, voice sounding off.

            Stiles wasn't surprised at the tone. Derek wasn't the only one keyed up. It was the most stressful day of tech week, by far. All of the cast and crew were having their own slip ups, no matter how well versed they were in their part. It was inevitable. And as the old saying went, a bad dress rehearsal meant a good opening night. Their dress rehearsal was for the middle schools (and some high school students) of the district the next morning, So Stiles felt it was warranted.

            After years of this, Stiles found the best method was distraction. So, he said the first thing that came to mind. "So, you're going to NYU for school?"

            Derek looked over at him, face a mask of confusion. "Yeah..."

            Stiles' grin widened. "That's awesome, man! I'm thinking of going out there, too. New York, I mean. I haven't accepted anywhere yet, and there is still a definite choice to make, but I'm leaning towards Columbia. It's where my mom went, yeah, but they also have what I'm looking for in a school."

            "What do you want to study?" Derek asked, head cocked to the side. His fingers twitched against the prop in his hands, thumb flicking over the light switch to turn it on and off quickly, simulating the fire.

            "Operations Research. Well- I want to go into the criminal law field, like my dad, but I want to be a detective, rather than an officer. So I figure four years of school learning how best to research stuff, then police academy. Eventually I'll work my way up in the department as detective. Oh! And I'll minor in Spanish, because that always looks good on resumes, and helps in the police field being bilingual."

            Derek's eyebrows raised when Stiles mentioned Spanish. "You want to learn the language?"

            Stiles shrugged and fidgeted with the headset around his neck. Cora's voice floated over the ear piece and said, "Five minutes to places."

            "Thank you five," he mumbled into the microphone before turning to the stage. "Five minutes to places!" he whisper-shouted to those in the cast around to hear him." Then he turned back to Derek and gave him an apologetic look. "Sorry. Uh, yeah! What was I-- The language, right! I mean, I'm in Spanish V here, but I'm not close to being bilingual, so I figure learning more in college will get me there."

            "You know," Derek spoke after a moment, as if approaching the subject carefully, "If you do end up going to Columbia, that's not too far from NYU. I could tutor you, er, help you with the Spanish. I'm fluent. And you wouldn't have to pay for a tutor."

            Stiles' face lit up. "Derek, that would be awesome! I mean, it's not a definite choice yet, but that would be really cool. Besides, I don't want to lose contact with you once we graduate, you know?"

            Derek's eyes gleamed, looking almost soft, and it made Stiles' breath catch. "Yeah. Can't let that happen."

            Derek's words fizzled between them as the tension grew. Stiles realized how close he was standing to Derek, and swallowed thickly.

            "Two minutes to places!" Cora practically shouted over the headset, and Stiles flinched at the unexpected noise, and he took two steps back.

            "Um. It's, uh, two minutes to places," he spoke to Derek first before turning to the rest of the stage and repeating "Two minutes to places!"

            Derek set the prop torch back onto its place on the prop table. "Thank you two," he replied softly, before passing Stiles and going into his dressing room where he would wait until he was needed.

            Stiles' could tell that Derek's thank you wasn't just for the time update. But he couldn't think over that, now. He had a job to do. He had to focus. He stepped away to a secluded corner and took a few deep breaths.

            He swung the headset back over his head, placing the headphones over his ears, before he spoke into the mic, "Tell me when, Cora."

            Moving to the edge of the stage, he pulled the side curtain over so that the backstage was blocked from audience view. He peeked his head through the small sliver left and watched as people from the other side readied themselves.

            "Places," he heard crackle in his ears, and he made eye contact with Boyd who was stationed on stage right. The both nodded.

            "Alright lights up, everyone!"Stiles whispered as the orchestra started up in the pit.

            The cast scrambled into position on the stage, and the curtain slowly rose to begin the second act.

~

            "So, how are things going with Isaac?" Derek asked Cora between runs of the show.

            Cora was still in the back up at the light board, where she would be directing those cues and following along in the script in case something went wrong. In her black ensemble, she sat poised on her chair, fingers hovering over the microphone controls. Derek gave her an unimpressed look, and she huffed, taking her hand away.

            "I wasn't actually going to turn them on," she said defensively.

            "Yes, you were. And stop deflecting my question. You. Isaac. Blink once for no and twice for yes."

            Cora shoved his shoulder. "Shut up. You have no right to judge me on being too slow when getting to the _relationship_ part of a relationship."

            "What the hell does that mean?" Derek hissed, eyes narrowing.

            Cora's eyes slanted, mocking her brother. "You wanna play that game?" she challenged "Fine. I'll tell you. It _means_ that you have known Stiles for at least four years now, and you've just now gotten to the stage where you are close enough friends to have texting conversations during dinner. And you say I'm slow?" She scoffed.

            Derek fumbled with his words. "That's-- that's not fair. I didn't know-- I never really got to know him before. So I'm taking my time. Plus! We're graduating soon. You know how many high school relationships last past college? A small percentage, Cora. I don't want to start something- ... And he may not even like me back."

            Cora scoffed loudly at that, and Derek deepened his glare towards her. She held up her hands in a surrender, and then motioned for him to continue.

            "He's... great, Cora. And yeah, I think being in a relationship with Stiles would be awesome. I just don't want to ruin the amazing thing we have right now because I got too invested," Derek admitted, shoulders slumping- somewhat in relief from finally saying his feelings out loud, but also partially from the reality that there was a slim chance he'd get what he wanted.

            Cora shook her head slowly. "You're wrong, big bro. Open your eyes," she hissed, adjusting her position in her seat.

            Derek could see the radio attached to her hip that connected to the headset that all of the crew members wore. Flashing up at him like a warning sign was a little red light.

            Derek froze. "Cora. Cora," he spoke urgently, "Is your headset on?!"

            Cora looked down at the pack at her side. "Yeah, guess I left it on."

            Shit. Shit shit _shit_. Derek had definitely been standing close enough to Cora for his words to be picked up by the microphone. Which meant if Stiles had been listening--

            His head shot up, and immediately his eyes were drawn to Stiles.

            Stiles headset was no longer around his neck, one headphone pressed against his ear, microphone tilted away from his mouth. His jaw was open, and he was staring at the floor in surprise.

            Okay. Okay, so he heard something. But Derek only said Stiles' name once! He could have been talking about anyone. He didn't know when in the conversation Stiles had entered. It was probably just the last sentence. Stiles was probably just surprised that Derek had feelings.

            Derek firmly denied the whole thing and decided, just to be safe, he'd avoid Stiles completely, probably for the rest of forever.

~

            Stiles knew he shouldn't have heard the private conversation between the Hale siblings. It was an honest accident.

            He had heard soft murmuring coming from the headset, so he raised one side up to his ear to see if on the other end was Morrell summoning him for a task. Instead, he heard Derek say, "He may not even like me back." Stiles was about to stop, he really was, until Derek said his name. That was the game changer.

            Apparently, the whole thing flipped Derek on edge, too. The last run of the show for the night had Derek screwing up little things. He ended up with the most notes out of the entire cast when Morrell sat them down at the end and gave pointers.

            Derek seemed distracted and agitated, and the mood swing was obviously brought on by his and Cora's conversation. Probably because he assumed Stiles didn't like him back, which, _wrong_.

            Derek was so wrong, So so _so so so_ wrong.

            It actually scared Stiles, a little, how wrong Derek was.

            Derek didn't look him in the eye, or anywhere near him, as he went to change out of his costume and pack up his things to go home.

            Stiles had to stick around to give Scott a ride, so once Scott was finally finished "de-Beasting" himself, most of the cast had already left. Cora was gone too, which meant Derek must have slipped out when Stiles was otherwise occupied. Stiles tried his best not to be agitated by that fact.

            Scott could see through him easily, so when Stiles stayed silent for the few moments it took for them to get outside the doors of the theater, Scott grabbed his wrist, bringing them both to a halt. The night air whipped at their faces. "Alright, what's up?" Scott asked.

            "So you know how I'm basically hopelessly gone on Derek?" Stiles blurted, fingering his keys in his pocket.

            Scott nodded easily. "Uh, yeah. I didn't expect for you to say it so blatantly, but yeah."

            Stiles hesitated before he turned his back and started walking to his Jeep. Scott had to jog to catch up, asking, "Wait, that's all you're gonna say?"

            Stiles opened the front door of his Jeep and slid in easily. Scott took his own seat and leveled Stiles with an unimpressed look as he shut his door. "You're still not saying anything."

            Stiles started the car and then raised his hands to the steering wheel, before banging his hands on it in frustration. "He likes me back!" he blurted out.

            Scott's confused face morphed into one of joy. "That's awesome!"

            "I just-- I don't think he knew I heard? At least, I mean. He kind of avoided me, but I do too, sometimes, anytime I ever have to think about my feelings for him. Just subconsciously. But I like him, obviously, and he likes me. But he doesn't know _I_ know he likes me, and he doesn't think I like _him_."

            Scott blinked. "Wow. Okay, uh." He scratched the back of his neck. "Maybe wait until the show is over before you discuss it with him. Not that I think you'd do something stupid!' Scott quickly deflected Stiles offended response that he knew would be coming. "But-- but because he obviously didn't take his confrontation with his feelings well, going by how much he messed up tonight. And I think you also need time to think things over. It's a stressful next couple of days. If you're both obsessing over this, neither of you will do your best. So try to put it out of your head for now, and focus on the show. As soon as Saturday night's show is over, you can make out, or whatever. Sound good?"

            Stiles' hands clenched around the steering wheel, but he nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, you're right. I have to focus. Derek will still be there when the show ends." The 'I hope' went unsaid as he reversed the Jeep and started on the path to Scott's house.

~

            Derek's grin didn't falter as he slid into the driver's seat. Cora side eyed him. "Why are you happy all of a sudden? You were pissed, like, two minutes ago."

            Derek's cheeks felt warm. His entire body felt warm.

            "He likes me, too," he spoke softly, simply, as he backed out of his parking space and followed the familiar Jeep out of the parking lot, and onto the road.

~

            The following morning, an hour before the dress rehearsal, the whole cast and crew met in the auditorium. Morrell instructed everyone to take a seat before getting costumed.

            Derek settled into the seat next to Stiles, and Stiles looked over at him in surprise. The warm he smile he got was another shock. "Morning," Derek said kindly.

            Stiles' response smile was belated, as was his, "Good morning!" Derek's demeanor was totally different than the night before, and he wasn't avoiding Stiles.

            Good, Stiles thought. This was good.

            If they could be their normal selves until the last show, everything would be awesome.

            At least he hoped.

            "Attention everyone!" Morrell called, and the anxious audience's gazes snapped to her. "I'd like to welcome you all to our dress rehearsal and first show of Beauty and the Beast!" A round of light applause rose up amongst the students, and once it died down, Morrell continued. "I know that this isn't opening night, but we are going to treat every show as if it were our last, and do it to the best of our abilities, okay? I am very proud of all of you and how much you've all grown with this show. What I really want from you all is to just see you enjoying yourselves."

            She clapped her hands, abruptly ending the emotional moment. Stiles rubbed at his eyes and denied to himself the fact that his vision had gone a little misty. Derek's pinky brushed over his hand, and though Stiles didn't know whether it was accidental or not, he took it as a comforting gesture.

            "Remember: Do the show the way we rehearsed it. Now go get ready, we open the house in twenty five minutes!"

            The group quickly stood and all moved to their respective places. Stiles grabbed Scott by the shoulders and pulled him into a large hug, saying, "You're gonna be awesome, I believe in you."

            As soon as Scott responded with a happy grin and jogged off backstage, Stiles looked towards Derek to see him lingering at his side. Stiles smirked softly.

            "Nervous?"

            Derek hesitated before nodding. "I just want to do a good job, and not let anyone down."

            Stiles reached out and squeezed his hand. "You're going to be fine, I promise. You know your stuff, and you're good. I have total faith in your abilities."

            Derek's nervous smile grew into one of relief and he squeezed Stiles hand in response. "Thanks. And you too. You're the only person I want managing this stage."

            Stiles ducked his head. "Awe, shucks, you' makin' me blush."

            Derek chuckled before squeezing Stiles hand twice more and slipping his hand from his grasp slowly. Stiles could feel the touch linger, and it made him smile.

            "Go get ready. Go!" Stiles prompted when Derek didn't move, nudging his shoulders and pushing him out into the aisle way towards the stage.

            Derek mouthed a, "Thank you," at him as his sister grabbed onto his arm, rolling her eyes, and pulled him backstage to get him costumed and makeup-ed.

            Stiles jogged up to the tech booth in the back, passing the orchestra as they all filed into the pit to start warming up. Lydia led the group in her nicely fitted black blazer and slacks, and she shot Stiles a wink when she caught him looking. He blew her a kiss in return.

            "Got everything ready, Mr. Stilinski?" Morrell inquired as she passed over his headset.

            He fitted the thing over his head and clipped the box onto his hip. "I believe so. Going to check the prop tables and make sure every set piece is lined up with the set tape, but I had organized everything last night for the top of the show."

            "Good. You've done very well, Stiles. Now go make me proud."

            Stiles bit his lip to hide his grin as he made his way backstage, dodging actors left and right as they went about hurrying through their before show routines. Allison paused her vocal exercises to give him a short hug as he passed by, and Erica kissed his cheek. He wiped at the lipstick stain and told her, "Leave that shit for Boyd."

            As soon as he set his sights on the prop table, he went into Stage Manager Mode and didn't let himself think of anything except for making sure this show went off without a hitch.

            He'd let himself think about Derek during intermission.

~

            For a dress rehearsal, Derek was relieved how well it went.

            The middle school students loved it, and Derek had never felt such elation as he got to bow on his own, and the crowd erupted into cheers. Derek spotted his cousin in the first few rows off to the left wearing a unbuttoned red polo shirt that looked similar to the one he was wearing, and his heart felt like it was going to explode.

            He had messed up a few times, but unlike the other times during rehearsal, he didn't feel as bad about it. Because he knew he had another chance that night and the next to be filled with the same energy and go out onto that stage and to it all over again.

            An extra thing for the middle school students that the main actors and all seniors had gotten permission to attend was a luncheon where the kids got to eat in the school cafeteria, and meet the characters and get them to sign their programs. Scott had done one in the fall for the play, and he told Derek that he would love it. "Just remember to stay in character. Mostly for the little-er ones, because they get so excited when you do."

            So instead of changing out of his costume as most of the ensemble members did, he made himself as presentable as possible (i.e. removing as much sweat as he could from his body and reapplying deodorant aggressively, as well as body spray, because those lights were killer after multiple hours) Derek met up with the rest of the group going to the luncheon. Scott had gotten back into his Beast costume, and Allison was wearing her floor sweeping yellow ball gown. Isaac was at a bit of a disadvantage with his candle-hands, but Ms. Morrell had assured him he would be allowed to take them off when not taking pictures with kids. Which was apparently another thing the kids may want to do. Derek was feeling a little overwhelmed.

            Though he was only crew, Stiles was tagging along because, "Dude, free food. I take the opportunity whenever I can. Besides, one of these kids may be the new future Stage Manager of Beacon Hills High. Got to bring them up right." But as soon as the group entered the cafeteria, Derek quickly lost sight of Stiles in the chaos of excited children.

            Derek sat in his indicated spot next to Liam at the end of the table. On his other side was supposed to have been Matt, but the guy had a test that he would have missed, so he had to skip out on the luncheon, thank God. Instead, Allison was at his side and then Scott. Each table only held four people per side, so the rest were at different tables next to them.

            The teachers lined the classes up in single file so that they could go down the line and talk to or take pictures with the actors they wanted to. Derek was expecting to get 'boo'ed and passed over, which did happen occasionally, especially by the littlest children. His character was terrifying, Derek knew he was playing the bad guy. So he got some backlash, but he played it up in his character, commenting, "I'm the best and deserve the best," and such. He didn't take it offensively, and he was especially glad his younger cousin was old enough not to hold his on-stage actions against him.

            One boy came up to him following a pair of girls who had gotten his autograph (it felt weird calling his signature that) and left giggling after poking at his arm muscles. He looked shy, probably about ten years old, his program held out in front of him like an offering, and his other hand curled into a fist at his side. Derek took it from him, signed where he was told to, and then gave the boy a kinder smirk than his character normally would have. "Did you enjoy the show?"

            The boy nodded. "Yeah. You-- you're my favorite."

            Derek's eyes softened, and he swore he herd Scott sigh happily off to his left. "Thank you very much. And just between you and me," he leaned forward as if it were a secret, "I think _you're_ more handsome than me and should marry Belle."

            The kid's eyes lit up and a genuine grin crossed his face. "Thanks. But she should be with the Beast-- er, Prince Adam. I like you better still."

            Derek gave him a wink and a nod, and the boy's cheeks pinked as he scampered to the side to get Liam's autograph.

            Derek chuckled at the reaction under his breath and looked up to greet the next person in front of him with a deep, "Hey there."

~

            Stiles stood on the sidelines and watched  as the kids got their time to talk and then went right over to the lunch line so that they could get time to eat before they had to leave to go back to their school for the second half of the day. Stiles smirked at the thought, remembering he was granted the whole day off because of the show.

            Easily, his eyes slid over to Scott's table where he moved the pen with ease around his clawed fingers as he signed people's programs, and gave them sunny smiles that outshined even Allison's.

            Then of course there was Derek.

            "Derek!" a boy said as he reached Derek, and Derek shushed him, giving him a look that mad the kid's eyes widen and say, "Oops! I mean-- Gaston!"

            Derek cracked a smile at that and leaned across the table to hug him. Stiles walked closer to see and noticed as the two broke the hug, the kid was wearing something that looked like it was a closet-Gaston costume. And from the way the two were relaxed around each other, it was easy to assume Derek knew this kid well. A family member, maybe.

            "You were awesome! I can't wait to go home and tell Mom and Dad about it, and then come back tonight and see it _again_!"

            "Don't pester them too much about coming. They may not have time, remember?" Derek gently, and Stiles' heart ached a little bit more.

            The kid shook his head however. "Nope, we are! Laura convinced Daddy that it was important everyone come, so the _whole family_ is coming tonight!"

            Derek's eyes widened and the boy seemed to quickly backtrack. "Oops! I wasn't s'posed to say anything! Don't tell Laura!"

            "I'll be telling Laura something," Derek grumbled, and Stiles chuckled at his tone. "Don't worry. I won't say anything. I'll talk to you more later, okay? Don't want you to miss out on lunch."

            The boy reached over for a second hug, and Derek easily gave it to him. Stiles had to look away because of how adorable of a moment it was.

            Derek was making it very difficult not to say anything about feelings by doing stuff like that _accidentally_. If Derek ever did try to impress Stiles on purpose in any way, he may just die.

            "Don't be so dramatic," Boyd murmured at his side, and Stiles jumped.

            "Was I talking out loud?"

            Boyd shrugged. "When aren't you?"

            Before Stiles could say another word, Boyd was walking away, and Stiles nodded, consenting to that brief argument.

            Not long after, almost all of the kids had their food and it was only a few that were getting their last couple of meet-'n-greets. Stiles snuck up behind Derek just as the last kid moved away and grasped his shoulders suddenly, making the other boy jump.

            Stiles laughed and leaned against the table next to him, smirking. "Sorry, couldn't resist. So, did you like it?"

            After Derek noticed it was Stiles who had spooked him, his wide eyed anger had quickly faded to a small but annoyed smile. "I did. It's nice to talk to them about it. I was surprised they weren't terrified of me, I mean, Gaston is a horrible person."

            "Yes, but you're Kind Gaston. So when they see how cuddly you really are off stage, they like you more," Stiles replied as he took Liam's vacated seat next to Derek, and grinned.

            Derek shrugged, but Stiles could see the slight blush on his cheeks. Stiles bit his lip, forcing himself to remember not to say anything. So, Derek liked him. He could wait to confess his undying love until final curtain. Probably.

~

            "So, should I say something?" Derek wondered to Cora later that afternoon. They were the only two in their house for the next hour or so before the rest of the family got home from work or school. So he was taking the opportunity to discuss with Cora about Stiles.

            He would have rather not discussed with anyone about it, but Cora was a witness and knew too much. It was safer to keep her on the inside.

            Cora shook her head. "No, not yet. Think about it, Derek. Look how stressed you are. You can't be focusing on declaring your love to Stiles, you need to focus on the show."

            "You're right. You're right, of course. I'll-- I'll wait until Monday. Or until then to think of how to ask. I can ask him to prom! Maybe?"

            Cora chuckled and stuck out her leg, causing Derek to trip and halt his pacing. He glared at her and she only laughed harder. "Stop thinking about it. Focus on the show. Go over your lines, make sure you have everything ready for tonight, prep yourself. It's opening night, don't let anything or anyone distract you. This is your night Derek."

            "That's probably the nicest thing you've ever said to me."

            She punched him in the side. "Get out of here, dickwad. I have light cues to go over."

~

            Prepping for opening night is the most stressful thing Stiles ever has to do.

            "Stupid, stupid," he muttered to himself as he raced around backstage, setting up props and set pieces. In the rush to get to the luncheon, he hadn't put the stage fully back to where it needed to be when the first act started, so he'd driven to the theater an hour earlier than crew was supposed to show up so that he could do what he should have done before.

            The back door of the house banged open and a familiar voice shouted, "Anyone in here?"

            Stiles jogged over to the front of the stage and looked out to see his father in uniform, hand on his hip next to his gun. "Dad?" he asked, confused.

            His father gave him a surprised look, but it quickly fell and he shook his head. "I should have known. A janitor in the school called us saying they heard some banging around in here but no one was supposed to be in yet. So on my way home I said I'd swing buy. Why are you here?"

            His dad had walked down the aisle and was now standing on the outer wall of the pit, staring up at him in irritation. Stiles sighed and sat on the edge of the stage. "Sorry," he grumbled. "There was just some things I needed to do, and I was so anxious, I just-- decided to come early."

            The sheriff sighed and nodded. He said, "Okay," like it was that simple. Stiles narrowed his eyes at him in confusion at the easy brush off, and even more so when his father jumped up to sit next to him, legs dangling into the pit.

            "Alright, kid. What's really going on?"

            Stiles sighed, running a hand over his face. "It's just-- this is my last year. My last opening night, my last musical. I want it to be perfect, so I can remember it forever. But I don't want it to end. I'm going to miss this place so much."

            Stiles' father pulled him close, and Stiles easily leaned into his father's embrace. "Look, Stiles. You're always going to have these good memories from high school. Even when you're in college, you can still look back on them and remember. Don't let the fear of the future stop you from having an amazing time _today_. You are going to manage the hell out of this show tonight and tomorrow, and then you're going to enjoy the rest of your senior year with your friends. I know you have your worries, kid, but remember that even when things go wrong, something is going to go right. You may miss a prop cue, or whatever, but you know Scott is going to nail that song you were telling me about and make everyone in the audience cry. You are going to have an amazing time tonight, because this is what you love doing."

            Stiles subtly wiped his wet cheeks on his father's jacket. "Thanks Dad."

            "And hey, you're going to Columbia. That's right near the city. I'm sure there are hundreds of theatre groups you could join and work with, if you want to still be a crew member, or whatever."

            Stiles snorted and shoved at his dad's shoulder. "Shut up."

            His father pressed a kiss to the top of his head before moving to stand. Stiles helped him up onto his feet. "I should get home and get some dinner. Did you eat?" At Stiles' nod, he continued, "Okay. I will see you after the show, then. Love you, son."

            "Love you too, Dad," Stiles replied, and waved as his father went back through the house and out the door.

            Stiles looked back over at the stage. The set was all in place for when they opened the traveler curtain to display all of the villagers. Stiles had double checked the props on the prop table. The only thing he had yet to do was check the dressing rooms for anything missed.

            Instead of doing that, though, he sat back down and let himself remember all of the shows he'd teched for over the last four years. A smile worked its way onto his face without him noticing.

            Some time later, Stiles didn't know how much, he felt someone settle down next to him, and he looked over to see Scott.

            "Hey," he practically whispered, not wanting to speak very loud and disrupt his calm. "What are you doing here?"

            "Your dad told me where you were. Thought you might like some company."

            "Thanks," was Stiles' reply before he turned to look back at the stage. Scott fell easily into the same position, immersing himself in the memories.

            They both cried this time, but neither of them felt the need to hide it. They were seniors. They earned this right.

~

            "One minute to places!" Stiles called across the stage as Derek walked up to him.

            "Thank you one," he said, distracted. "Do you know where my rifle is?"

            Stiles rolled his eyes. "It's on the table, Derek. You know this. You ask me every time where it is, and it's always in the same place."

            "I know! I'm sorry," Derek rushed out, quickly shuffling over to the prop table to grab his hunting rifle prop. "I just--" he huffed a little, "I like to hear from you, check in with you, before we start. You help me concentrate," Derek confessed. He could feel his cheeks heating up and was glad for the stage makeup foundation and blush he was already wearing for not showing it.

            Stiles tilted his head to the side, eyes softening, and he cooed at him. Derek rolled his eyes and shoved his shoulder. Stiles leaned back from the force and chuckled quietly. "No, hey. I get it, really. It's good to do something normal. Not think about what we're about to do."

            "Yeah," Derek breathed, the corner of his mouth tilting up in a small smirk.

            Stiles opened his mouth after a moment, but then closed it suddenly and shook his head. "Places. You're gonna be great, Derek. I believe in you."

            Stiles walked away from him, saying to the people on stage, "Places!" and Derek watched him as he went, gripping the rifle tight in his hands.

            He could hear the sound of applause from the audience and then Boyd doing the normal before-show introduction of the show and urging the audience not to take pictures or video, and to please silence their cell phones.

            Derek closed his eyes and took some calming breaths, moving out of the way for people to get into their place on stage.

            He could do this. He did it earlier that day, he did it all that past week. He could put on this show. He had confidence. He had family out there in the audience cheering for him. He. Could. Do this.  

            Derek opened his eyes just as Paige began the narration. "Once upon a time in a far away castle..."

            Derek nudged his costume into place, checked himself in the dressing room mirror, and gripped his prop rifle tightly enough that he got indentations on his hands.

            He must have zoned out for a moment because Paige had stopped talking, and the intro to Belle had begun without him noticing.

            "Focus," Derek hissed at himself as he moved into place. He rolled his shoulders and watched, through the slit in the curtain, the song develop as the lights brighten and brighten, and their fake town came to life.

            Derek focused himself into character, adjusting his grip on the rifle. Liam came up to his side and nudged him in a silent, "You ready?" and he nodded in response.

            Derek's character smirk fell into place just as a fake gunshot echoed across the stage, and Liam ran out with a bag full of 'game', shouting, "I got it, I got it!" and staring at the ceiling as Stiles dropped a stuffed duck to the ground at his feet. Liam quickly stuffed it into his bag, and Derek walked calmly onto the stage, gun propped up over his shoulder, a sway in his step.

            "You didn't miss a shot, Gaston. You're the greatest hunter in the whole world!" Liam cried in his funny Lefou voice.

            Derek smirked, eyes flicking over the crowd before declaring, "I know."

~

            When Stiles goes into Stage Manager Mode, time flies by far too fast. He gets his jobs done, then waits patiently for his next job. And if someone comes up to him with an emergency, he takes care of it, reports it up to Morrell, and then goes back to whatever else he had to do. He was proud to say that he was a very efficient worker when stage managing.

            It probably had to do with the fact that as stage manager you need to keep track of multiple things at a time. And because of his ADHD, he is constantly thinking of multiple things. So this job was almost kind of perfect for him, because he knew he could do it when he paid attention.

            So after running around for a solid two and a half hours, Stiles came to the end of his list on his clip board and he blinked, raising his head. He looked out over the stage to see the cast singing the final song. He dropped the clipboard to the floor and sighed in relief. They did it. They survived opening night.

            With the final, "Ah!" strung out in a perfect chord, the audience clapped and cheered loudly. Stiles lowered his headphones off of his hears and the sound got even louder. He heard the muffled call of, "Blackout," from Morrell, and his legs spurred him into motion.

            The first bow at curtain call was reserved to the crew, so Stiles fought against the crowd of actors to push his way onto the stage in the dark and get into the lineup. Cora ran down the side aisle and onto the stage just as the lights came up, and a huge grin broke across Stiles' face when the crowd cheered and applauded, and he bowed with the rest of the group, finally breathing easy.

            On shaky legs, Stiles moved with the rest of the crew off to the right wing and watched as the freshmen ensemble came out and bowed, then the sophomore ensemble, then the junior, then senior, before the named characters all came out in smaller groups.

            Stiles cheered along with the audience as each person came out, and his voice got especially louder when Derek stumbled out, face shining with sweat, but the biggest easy grin spread across his face. The crowd was on their feet by then, and Scott brought out Allison on his arm, making them applause grow even louder, if that was possible. Allison was obviously crying, but no one cared as the whole group came together in a line to bow together.

            Stiles leaned over to look at Derek through the line of other actors and crew, and he miraculously caught his eye. Heaving for breath, they both shared a smile before the rest of the group, using their held hands, made them bow together.

            They all pointed towards the orchestra who were still hard at work playing the curtain call music, and Lydia stood as she conducted still, turned towards the audience slightly and bowed. Stiles hooted and hollered before he was pulled back into another company bow and then another.

            Stepping quickly behind the lowering curtain, the cast waved  at the audience until the curtain was too low for them to see anyone. It was a countdown, waiting until the curtain hit the floor. Waiting, waiting, waiting... Yes!

            The cast broke into cheers and Stiles reached for Scott who was hugging Kira and held them both in a hug as they all cried with happiness. Stiles felt another weight at his back which he saw out of the corner of his eye was Derek, and felt his entire body go warm.

            The rest of the cast soon joined in and it was quickly turned into a group hug where half of the people were crying in relief, and the other half were just crying.

            Eventually they all broke up to get changed and wipe the smearing makeup off of their faces. Derek gave Stiles a tired but warm smile before departing, and Stiles stumbled backstage so that he could make his way out into the audience. That was the benefit of being crew-- he was able to greet people right after the show instead of changing first.

            Once Stiles entered the house, Lydia was finishing up the exit music with a dramatic flourish, and Stiles clapped along with the audience in respect before rushing over and sweeping her up into a hug.

            "That was awesome, Lyds."

            She chuckled and patted his back as they broke out of the hug. "You did well, too, Stilinski. Now, go see your dad."

            Stiles turned around to see his dad weaving his way around people lingering in the aisle towards him, and Stiles took pity and jogged up to meet him halfway.

            His father swept him up into a hug, and Stiles clung back easily. "You did a good job, kid. That was an amazing show. And you were right-- Scott's song made me cry."

            Stiles laughed and shook his head. His limbs felt heavy and he looked up at the stage in dread. he would have to help put the set back in place for the top of the show before he left, but he was just so exhausted.

            "I have to go-- stage. I'll meet you in the lobby in a bit, okay?" Stiles waved his father off after another hug and sluggishly made his way back down the aisle.

            Before he could retreat back stage, a hand tapped at his shoulder, and he turned to face a woman whom he quickly recognized to be Derek's mother.

            "Ms. Hale, hi!" Stiles spoke in surprise.

            Surprising him even more, the woman pulled him into a quick hug. "That was a wonderful show, Stiles. Derek has been telling me all about how much effort you have put into it. And I have to thank you for supporting my son. I had worried when he first auditioned, he wouldn't be accepted. But then he talked about you, and I knew he'd found some friends."

            Stiles wasn't sure what he was supposed to take as the most important there, and all he could say was, "Derek talks about me?"

            "Oh honey," another voice spoke, and Stiles saw Laura, Derek's older sister, walking over to them, Cora at her heels.

            Talia held up her hand, and Laura closed her mouth with a pout. A man came up to her shoulder and Stiles assumed this was Derek's father.

            "Um, hello," Stiles said, for lack of something better.

            "Stiles!"

            Stiles turned around and was relieved to see Derek jogging towards them, his brow furrowed in something that almost looked like concern. "Hey. Just meeting your family. Sort of, I guess. I know half of you Hales already."

            "You know half of _these_ Hales, be glad my extended family hasn't come down here yet," Derek joked, nodding his head towards the crowd of people moving down the aisle. Stiles recognized the little boy from earlier still in his Gaston outfit.

            Beginning to feel overwhelmed, Stiles motioned to the stage and said, "I should get to resetting the stage. It was lovely to talk to you, Ms. Hale."

            "You as well, Stiles," Derek's mom replied kindly as she pulled Derek close and hugged him tight.

            Stiles turned back to the stage and was relieved to see that most everyone was cleared from the backstage area. He made his way back there and started picking up props and setting them back where they belonged. Most of the students were good about returning props, but some they left in the dressing rooms, and Stiles needed everything to be organized.

            The main effort was pushing the set back into place. Boyd, the angel, had removed all of the castle pieces already, but Stiles was tasked with setting up the village again.

            As Stiles went to turn the one flat around to the correct side, he quickly felt someone else helping him move it into place. When they were finished, he looked over and was surprised to see Derek giving him a tired smile.

            "Thought you might need some help," he said, and Stiles practically melted.

            "Deja vu," he murmured, and Derek cracked a grin at his words.

            "Yeah, I guess so."

            They silently moved about the stage, setting the place back up, and with Derek's help he was finished in just a few minutes. The rest of the finer details were things that needed to be set up only an hour before the show, so there was nothing else left to do, thank goodness.

            "Thank you for the help, I really appreciate it. You-- you were awesome out there today. I knew you would be."

            Without any makeup on his cheeks, now Derek's light flush was obvious to Stiles. And it cemented something inside of him. He was going to tell Derek about his feelings As soon as he could.

            "Thanks. You help a lot, with confidence boosts and such. So I owe it all to you."

            Stiles pulled Derek into a hug. The other boy must not have been expecting it going by the soft gasp that was pulled out of him, but Stiles just squeezed him until Derek's arms went up around him as well.

            "I'm going to remember this show forever," he breathed.

            He could feel Derek nod against his shoulder, and his warm breath left a tingling sensation behind when he replied, "Me too. Thanks to you."

~

            After that, time seemed to go by far too fast. Even the matinee the next afternoon went by in a blur, for Derek.

            After finishing up the show on Friday night, a large part of the cast all went out for a late night dinner at a good diner near the school, which was apparently tradition. Talia had allowed Derek to go for a little, and he was so glad she had.

            Derek spent two hours squeezed in a tiny booth between Stiles and Kira while the wait staff glared at them for making noise and ordering 18 milkshakes at ten in the evening. Derek wasn't sure if he'd ever had as fun of a time with friends.

            As soon as he fell into bed that night, he was asleep, the exhaustion of doing two shows catching up to him quickly as soon as the adrenaline rush wore off. His mother woke him up around 10 the next morning, and demanded he do some cleaning before the show at 2.

            By the time he arrived at the theater at 1 for call time, he was wide awake and ready to perform. The rest of the cast was in a similarly relaxed state. Matinees were always less attended, and it was kind of assumed in the theatre world (according to Allison) that the afternoon show wasn't ever going to be as good as the evening. So Derek wasn't stressing much, which he saw as an advantage because he knew whatever happened during the show, he still had the evening to do his best work.

            Ms. Morrell's inspirational speech was short but sweet, and Cora's speech before the show started towards the audience swelled Derek with pride, and he followed that high throughout the whole show. It didn't settle into him until curtain call that Derek only had one show left.

            Derek almost tripped over his feet as he backed away from the curtain as it fell, ending the show for the actors. Distractedly, he hugged people before stumbling into his dressing room and changing back into street clothes. He neatly hung up his costume on the rack while he toweled away the makeup on his face with some tissues.

            He didn't even notice Stiles calling for his attention until a hand landed on his shoulder, and he looked up in surprise at the mirror, seeing Stiles next to him in the reflection.

            "You okay?" Stiles inquired. His headset was around his neck, his shoulders relaxed, but his eyebrows were furrowed.

            Derek turned around after chucking the used tissues into the waste basket. "Yeah, 'm fine. Just-- one more show."

            Stiles' concerned smile morphed into a wide grin. "I know, right? It's crazy how fast time flew by. It feels like just yesterday I was watching auditions."

            "Yeah," Derek spoke, nodding in agreement as he smiled tentatively. "Next thing we know, it's prom. Then graduation."

            Stiles huffed out a heavy breath. "Yeah, well-- Let's try to focus on tonight, eh?"

            Derek took a moment to just look at Stiles and appreciate him for the person he is. And he was lucky enough to be someone Stiles _liked_. Derek was going to treasure this boy for as long as he was allowed. Stiles stared back at him, smiling softly, and Derek wondered what he was thinking.

            Cora, of course, bounded into the room with a tired grin on her face. "Come on, slowpoke. Peter wants to make fun of you."

            Derek groaned, trudging after his sister, leaving Stiles behind with a look of amusement on his face. "Uncle Peter can shove it up his ah-- hey, Mom!"

~

            Stiles watched as Derek got accosted by some of his teammates from the basketball team, as he finished up re-setting the stage. His dad wasn't at this show, though he said he would be later that evening, but Stiles' wasn't that disappointed. Stiles always felt happy for the rest of the cast as they were greeted by friends or family. Looking out over the audience, Stiles noticed Isaac sitting in a chair, alone, a look of sadness across his face.

            Stiles hopped off of the stage and settled next to Isaac, who looked up at him in surprise from his phone screen. "You okay, dude?"

            Isaac sighed and shook his head. "Yeah... No. Camden, my brother, he was supposed to get home today, but his flight got delayed. Now he probably won't be able to come see the last show."

            Stiles knew more about Isaac's family than most did, though it had been the hot gossip in the halls when it became public of Isaac's father's abuse. Stiles' dad had been the one to arrest him, and Isaac had stayed with them for a few days until they found a family for him to stay with until his brother was back from overseas.

            Stiles reached out and squeezed Isaac's shoulder. "Sorry, man. But he's coming home! You must be excited. You moved into your new apartment now, yeah?"

            Isaac's face lit up, some. "Yeah. it's pretty nice, actually. It's one of the Hales Apartments, and I guess Ms. Hale gave us a good discount on the place." Stiles saw movement out of the corner of his eye and looked over at Cora, who quickly looked away, cheeks brightening after a moment. It seemed there may have been some convincing from a certain Hale on that discount.

            Stiles gave Isaac a sincere smile. "That's awesome, man. And, hey, you've been amazing out there on stage. Even if Cam doesn't get here in time to see it, I know he's going to be proud of you either way."

            Isaac's smile looked a little watery as he said a soft, "Thank you," so Stiles gave him another pat on the shoulder before giving him some space. However, as soon as he was gone, it seemed that Cora took her moment to strike, taking his abandoned seat and running a hand through Isaac's curly locks.

            Damn. Derek's little sister had the balls to talk to her crush , so why couldn't Stiles? He knew Derek liked him, the show was almost over, everything was awesome. What was he waiting for?

            At a cursory glance around the theater, Derek seemed to have disappeared, but Stiles wasn't worried. Not anymore. He was excited, and ready. Soon.

~

            Derek shouldn't have been so nervous. He'd done this show 3 times before in front of an audience, and at least 20 other times during practice. He knew his stuff, and was confident in his abilities. So then why were his hands shaking?

            Ms. Morrell had just gotten word over to them that she would be opening the door soon for the audience, and according to ticket sales, they may very well have a full house tonight. Still, that wasn't what was angsting Derek.

            All of the seniors seemed to be experiencing similar feelings, so that sort of helped Derek feel better. He'd already seen Kira wiping away tears (or more accurately, Scott wiping them away for her so she didn't smudge her makeup), and even a few of the freshman broke down when Allison pulled them into a pre-show hug. Emotion was everywhere around him, but he just couldn't feel it yet.

            Sure, he'd had the revelation: This is my last show, _holy shit_. But he'd been expecting something more. Something new. He wanted to feel what everyone else was feeling-- that bond. Damn it, he wanted to cry too.

            Which was a weird thing to want, Derek realized, and he found himself vocalizing this to Stiles as the man walked over to him.

            "Have you cried yet?" he asked bluntly.

            But Stiles took the question in stride, declaring without shame, "Yeah. At least three times in the last two days."

            Derek huffed, frowning slightly. "What am I not getting? Why can't I?"

            Stiles raised an eyebrow. "You _want_ to cry?"

            Derek shrugged. "Yeah. Well-- not cry, I guess. But I want to feel something enough that I cry anyway. Am I making any sense?"

            Stiles looked at Derek, and if he didn't know any better (which, he was starting to question ever since he discovered Stiles' feelings towards him) he'd think Stiles wanted to kiss him, right then.

            So of course, when that actually happened, Derek was 100% caught off guard.

            Stiles pulled back, letting his lips go with a soft hum of happiness, lips tilting up in a content smile. "Curtain."

            "Huh?" Derek murmured, still three seconds behind.

            "Curtain call. Or once the curtain falls. Then you'll cry, trust me."

            Before Derek could say anything in response, Stiles _sashayed_ away-- _fucking hell_ \-- and Derek stood in one spot, dumbfounded, for a solid minute.

            Twitching fingers raised to his lips as he pressed on them, and the tingling he felt shot a jolt down his spine.

            Stiles kissed him.

            "Holy shit," Derek spoke aloud and the four people in his vicinity looked at him oddly before moving on.

            "House is open," Boyd called from stage right, and the entire cast and crew grew quieter at the announcement, but Derek was still trying to catch up.

            No one seemed to notice Derek's inner turmoil. There had to have been people around when that happened, some else must have seen it. But no one acted any different because of it. No one was looking at him in shock or surprise--

            _But it wasn't really a surprise, though, was it?_ Derek realized with a jolt. He and Stiles had been dancing around each other for _months_ now. Sure, it was only recently that Derek realized how much he'd been crushing on Stiles and admitted it out loud, but the attraction towards Stiles had certainly been there even before he decided to audition.

            Stiles must have heard Derek's confession to Cora earlier that week (and man did that feel like a lifetime ago) and realized that Derek felt the same. Did Stiles confess to Scott about his own feelings within Derek's hearing range on purpose? Or was it just fate?

            Either way, it sent Derek's heartbeat wild. Stiles liked him, and Derek liked Stiles. It was official, signed, sealed, and delivered with a _fucking_ kiss.

            "Fifteen minutes to places!" Derek heard, and he shook his head, snapping himself out of his thoughts to find he'd been standing in one spot, unmoving, for over 10 minutes.

            Scott passed by, completely decked out in his costume, and smacked him on the shoulder. "You ready dude?"

            The look Scott was giving Derek made Derek realize he was talking about more than just being ready for the show. It made sense, Scott was Stiles' best friend. Of course he was going to be protective.

            Derek nodded. "I am."

            Scott grinned at him widely before pulling him into a big hug. "Thank you."

            Derek wasn't sure what the thanks was for this time, but he took it none the less, embracing Scott back, and hugging him tighter when he heard the boy sniffle.

            If Stiles thought he would be getting away with that kiss-and-dash, he had another thing coming.

~

            Right before Liam was about to jog onto the stage, right before Stiles was going to climb the rafters and drop the dead-goose prop for Liam to fail at catching, Derek rounded the corner, grabbing his prop rifle from the table, and headed straight for Stiles.

            Stiles swallowed quickly, his mouth opening to stutter an apology or something, he had no idea. But before he could, the words were stolen from his lips by Derek's.

            The kiss was short, abrupt, but totally disorienting. Stiles blinked twice and looked at Derek's smirk once the man pulled back. "Break a leg," the Derek murmured to him before stepping into place, ready to go out on stage, following Liam. Liam!

            There wasn't enough time to climb and be able to toss the prop from the top of the theater, so Stiles instead threw it from offstage in his vicinity. He knew it probably looked dumb, but the audience laughed as Liam fumbled, as his character was supposed to, and Derek flawlessly swaggered onto the stage.

            "Fuck _me_ ," Stiles groaned, finally coming back to his senses.

            At least two other voices cracked over the headset he had perched over his ears and said, _"Not my job."_

            Face burning for more reasons than one, Stiles took a deep breath before picking up his dropped clipboard and scanned the list for his next job. He was going to focus on the show and make it the best one ever, dammit.

            Then _afterwards_ he could kiss Derek aggressively. Afterwards.

~

            Derek rushed out on stage at his cue, and he could hardly hear anything aside from his heart pounding in his hears and the crowd roaring, standing, and applauding. He bowed twice before joining the lineup.

            His face felt like it was going to break under the force of his smile, but he couldn't stop it. He just felt so elated. This is how he felt after winning the championship for the basketball team. This is how it felt getting accepted into NYU. This is how it felt... to look at Stiles.

            That was the moment he broke. Derek fell against Scott's side as he and Allison joined them and he sobbed as all of them as a cast and crew bowed together. He wiped at his face before gesturing to the orchestra, but fresh tears replaced those quickly.

            This. This feeling of elation, of success, of pure happiness-- this was what he was looking for. Of course Stiles was right. Curtain was when he would cry.

            As soon as the curtain hit the floor of the stage, Derek saw nothing but a blurry Stiles in his arms, hugging the life out of him. They were both crying.

            "I told you," Stiles mumbled into his chest, and Derek nodded against his shoulder.

            "You did, you were right."

            Derek blinked away the tears and looked up and around at the rest of the cast who looked to not be in a much better state. Scott had both Kira and Allison in his arms and looked conflicted and happy, but was also crying, so it made for quite the picture. Ms. Morrell was also back stage, smiling as she watched some older guy hug Isaac fiercely while the boy cried. Cora was by their side, smiling. Derek hadn't expected her to cry, and she didn't, but her lip was wobbling slightly,

            "Why is this so fucking emotional?" Derek murmured, and Stiles pulled back, hands settling against his waist.

            Stiles shrugged. "Hell if I know. But... it's over, Derek. The show is over. What am I supposed to do now?"

            "Me?" Derek suggested, and Stiles scoffed out a laugh, feebly smacking his shoulder. Derek pulled Stiles close to him again, but instead of another hug, captured his lips in a gentle kiss. It wasn't a sneak attack, like Stiles', or fierce, like Derek's. It was theirs, and it was slow, and absolutely perfect.

            Stiles broke the kiss with a smile before stepping back, sniffling and wiping at his eyes. "You should probably go change, see your family. And I my dad-- But," he looked up at Derek, hopeful, "After that."

            Derek gave him a swift peck on the lips, "After," he promised, shortly.

            Stiles' smile settled something in Derek, and he wondered why he'd ever worried in the first place.

~

            Sunday morning dawned bright and far too early for Stiles' taste. He slapped a hand over his phone a few times until the alarm shut off, and then stumbled into the bathroom to get ready for the day ahead. It wasn't until he was in the shower, the warm spray a soothing feeling on his aching muscles, that he woke up enough to realize why he was awake so early and what had happened the day before.

            Beauty and the Beast was over.

            It was tradition to have a cast and crew party the day after the final show, but before anyone could receive that treat, everyone had to pitch in and help strike the set. Stiles had been moving set pieces for the last four years, but now it was his turn to watch the actors struggle with lugging those flats into the storage room. Stiles smirked at the thought, remembering how inept Scott was at carrying props. and Derek--

            Well, Stiles would get to see Derek's muscles in action, lifting the heaviest things, he's sure, because the guy lives to help. If Stiles never got the opportunity to hang off of those wonderful muscles, he would surely cry himself to sleep.

            Thankfully, he didn't have to, because Derek _liked_ him. _Kissed_ him. Wanted to _date_ him. Stiles thought he may be smug for a while.

            His father had breakfast ready for him when he got down into the kitchen after getting dressed, and Stiles ate lightly, quickly, before shouting to his father about his departure as he grabbed his Jeep keys and closed the front door behind him.

            Once he arrived at the school, Stiles pulled up next to Derek's car, and he and Scott got out. When Stiles had swung by Scott's house to pick him up, not ten minutes ago, he'd passed a car driving in the opposite direction coming from Scott's house that looked suspiciously like Kira's. Of course, as Scott's best friend, Stiles drilled him as soon as Scott was securely locked in the car.

            Scott was quick to shoot down anything mentions of something scandalous happening, and simply stated that she slept over, and that was all. The only reason Stiles knew he was telling the truth was because Scott knew Stiles well enough at this point that lying was just a stupid thing to do. Plus, Stiles had heard plenty about what went on with Scott and Allison the past couple years, so he was relieved to be spared of any finer details this morning.

            Stiles snuck up behind Derek who was standing backstage, waiting to be given a job, and wrapped his arms around his waist before kissing his cheek. Derek had tensed in surprise at first, but then melted into Stiles' touch and spun in his arms. He gave Stiles a short kiss before letting him go. "Morning," Stiles greeted.

            Derek quirked an eyebrow. "It's almost noon."

            "Yeah, but it's still _morning_."

            Derek shoved him towards the now empty prop table gently. "Help me carry this, will you?"

            The pair folded the two tables up and carried them one at a time to the closet in the hallway of the theater. Stiles followed behind Derek easily, because that ass was something he never wanted to stop seeing in his field of view.

            "You checking out my ass?" Derek asked nonchalantly as they hoisted the second table into their arms.

            "Yup," Stiles responded, popping the 'p' with his lips. Derek just snorted in response.

            With the whole cast pitching in, Stiles got a chance to just sit in the house with the rest of the crew and watch everyone else do the work for once. Morrell was standing center stage, sending people on specific jobs. Stiles laughed when Scott dropped something for the third time and Morrell just shook her head and sent him on Swiffer duty to clean up the floor of the stage and dressing rooms. Scott went, an embarrassed smile on his face.

            Cora scowled at him as he obviously watched Derek walk back and forth across the stage, offering to help any and everyone. Though, they both bonded when Derek and Isaac worked together to roll up a backdrop, the both of them watching their boys' arm muscles flex each time they twisted the tarp around and tied it off. Boyd just gave them both eye rolls, but Stiles could see him tracking Erica with his eyes; he had no legs to stand on.

            It was only about an hour later than everything was finally put away, sans the lights that the school hired professionals to take care of, as they were too expensive for any student to be allowed to touch. Morrell addressed everyone and dismissed them into the cafeteria where tables had been set up for them to sit and eat at. "Seniors eat first!" she called out as soon as the mob of teenagers started to move. There were some groans from the crowd, but most of them were used to the rule by then. Scott and Stiles fist bumped as they tore out of the theater and down the hallway towards the cafeteria.

            Melissa, Scott's mom, was one of the parents who helped set up the party (which was why she couldn't give Scott a ride, as she'd been there an hour before hand), and she shook her head and tsked as the boys slid into view before the rest of the cast. "Sometimes I can't distinguish you two from your six-year-old selves."

            "No shame," Stiles crowed, swiping three slices of warm pizza. No sooner had he done that when a warm presence was at his back, and Derek swooped in to steal a kiss. And then a slice of _Stiles'_ pizza to add to his plate. "Hey!" Stiles squawked as he reached for the chip bowl. "Rude."

            "I thought part of being in a relationship was sharing food?" Derek questioned. Stiles' heart flipped over hearing Derek say, "relationship."

            "We're in a relationship?" Stiles asked stupidly.

            Derek blushed and Stiles found it absolutely adorable. "I was hoping so," Derek mumbled, head ducked.

            Stiles grinned and leaned in to kiss the hopeful-looking Derek, but Asshole Matt butted in, ordering the two to get their food and move, they were holding up the line. Erica smacked the back of his head in response, growling at him for ruining a moment.

            The couple quickly skittered off to a table with Scott, and were soon joined by Kira, Allison, Erica, and Boyd. They made space for Isaac when he wandered over, so of course, Cora pulled up a chair next to him, paying no mind to the zero table space she got, propping her plate on Isaac's lap instead. Derek crinkled his nose at the sight, but Stiles kissed the look off of his face.

            Looking around at his friends, seeing Kira curled up against Scott's side, or Allison laughing hard at Isaac's joke, or feeling Derek's pinky rub up against his so often that intertwining their fingers is just the easiest thing to do-- Stiles felt content. He was going to graduate soon, and then go off to a great university. Plus, Derek was going to be beside him the whole way.

            And maybe they'd work out, maybe they wouldn't, but Stiles was focusing on today, on _now_.

            And right now, feeling Derek's slightly sweaty hand against his, he couldn't be any happier with the decisions he'd made.

            Derek leaned over to kiss Stiles' cheek, and Stiles melted into it easily.

~

EPILOGUE

            Derek watched Stiles' fingers as they deftly tied a tie around his neck. When he finished, he patted to down and smoothed it out, before looking up at Derek with a smile. "Perfect," he murmured, before tugging at Derek's jacket collar, straightening it out, then pecking his lips quickly.

            "And you," Derek admired, hands trailing down Stiles' suit-clad arms. "You look amazing."

            Derek always got a certain thrill at watching Stiles blush. No matter how many times he saw it, it always urged him to steal a kiss or six. So he swooped in and did just that.

            Stiles let him only kiss twice, though, before he shook his head. "No more. Don't want to spoil the evening ahead, now do we?"

            Derek sighed dramatically, as if put off. "I suppose you're right.

            Stiles' dad knocked on the door and called out, "Boys, five minutes."

            "Thanks dad!" Stiles called back, and the couple could hear the sheriff chuckle softly before walking away.

            "He doesn't think we're going to be on time," Stiles realized, looking up at Derek with wide eyes.

            Derek shook his head. "Nope. But when are we ever?"

            Stiles opened his mouth to respond, but he found he had no ground to stand on, Derek assumed, by the way he quickly snapped his mouth shut. "Huh. Guess not."

            Derek heard a honking from outside, and he looked out the window to see a black limo pull up on the side of the street. "Our ride is here."

            Derek heard Stiles hum appreciatively behind him and murmur in oddly accented Spanish, "El coche puede esperar. Te ves muy bien en ese traje." _The car can wait. You look great in that suit._

            It was Derek's turn to blush as he turned just in time to collect an armful of Stiles. He laughed against his lips. "Your Spanish is really coming along."

            "Mmm, well I have a good teacher."

            "Remind me to thank him," Derek joked as he leaned forward for another kiss. What was being late one more time. It was expected of them, wasn't it?

            There was another knocking at the door, but this time it was Derek's mother who barked out, "Boys! One minute!"

            Stiles scrambled away from Derek quickly, eyes wide, and Derek laughed at his startled look. It would forever amuse him how his mother always snapped Stiles into place. He supposed it was fair, however, because the sheriff did the same to Derek.

            "So, Derek. Which one of us is Beauty, and which is the Beast?" Stiles wondered, fingering at the rose pinned to his jacket pocket.

            Derek caught his hand between his and kissed it. "Right now? We are late."

            Stiles pouted. "You didn't answer my question."

            Derek snorted, leading Stiles to the door. "You already know my answer."

            Stiles groaned. "Yeah, but your answer is just, "We are ourselves and I love us just as we are," or something dumbly sweet like that," Stiles replied, pitching his voice lower to mimic how Derek would have said it.

            "Okay, first--" Derek hesitated before opening the door, turning to speak, "I don't sound like that. And second-- Not everything has to be musical theatre, Stiles."

            As soon as he said it, Derek knew what Stiles' response would be. A smirk crossed his boyfriend's lips, and he simply replied, "Why not?"

            They ended up being late.

**Author's Note:**

> I left the epilogue sort of open to interpretation. Are they going to prom? Graduation? Are they getting married? ALL ARE OPEN FOR INTERPRETATION but of course my personal headcanon is that they stay together throughout college and then get a house together in Beacon Hills where after graduating from the police academy without problem Stiles makes his way up from police deputy to detective while Derek works as a translator and travels sometimes with Stiles sometimes without for this job but also decides to be the stay at home dad for their two kids when they eventually adopt them and of course Stiles never gives up on theatre supporting the high school and community theatre groups by helping out with lights and such and Derek tags along every so often, and their kids grow up hearing show tunes in the house constantly SO YEAH WHATEVER YOU WANNA THINK
> 
> There's more of this insanity on my tumblr if that interests you: redhoodedwolf


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